Abstract
The Lower Gondwana Kundaram Formation of the Pranhita-Godavari valley records the sole occurrence of Permian amniotes in India. The horizon has yielded various dicynodonts, mainly represented by medium-sized Endothiodon. This assemblage also contains several small dicynodonts belonging to the family Pristerodontidae and Emydopidae. Pristerodon (P. mackayi Huxley, 1868), Emydops (E. platyceps Broom and Haughton, 1917) and Cistecephalus (C. microrhinus Owen, 1876) are described here. This is the first detailed description of these genera from outside Africa. The older name Emydops in place of Emydoses is retained and the Indian specimens of Pristerodon, Emydops and Cistecephalus are compared with those from the Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup of South Africa. Based on its vertebrate fauna, the Kundaram Formation is broadly correlated with the Tropidostoma and Cistecephalus Assemblage Zones of the Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup, South Africa, the basal beds of the Madumabisa Mudstones of Zambia, the Ruhuhu and the lower part of the Kawinga Formation of Tanzania and the Morro Pelado Member of the Rio do Rasto Formation of Brazil. It suggests a Late Permian Tatarian age for the Kundaram Formation. The distribution of the Kundaram dicynodonts in the other Gondwanan countries indicates the close proximity of the continents during that period and a lack of endemism or provinciality.
