Microbiota from the Late Cretaceous-Early Palaeocene Boundary Transition in the Deccan Intertrappean Beds of Central India: Systematics and Palaeoecol

Prof. (Dr.) Ashu Khosla, received a M.Sc. in 1991 and Ph.D. in Geology from Panjab University in January, 1997 and later undertook a postdoctorate from Montpellier University, France in 1997-1998 on Indian and European dinosaur eggs and their palaeobiogeographical implications. Presently he is a Professor and Director/Head in the Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh. His research specializations are in Palaeontology (Micropaleontology, Vertebrate Paleontology, Palaeobotany, Paleobiogeography, Paleoecology, Paleoenvironments, Stratigraphy and Biostratigraphy). He has teaching experience of more than 25 years at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in the following areas: Paleontology and Stratigraphy. His work has been acknowledged worldwide by palaeontologists and palaeobiogeographers, as it covers diverse issues such as evolution, diversity and biogeography of vertebrates and microbiota associated with the Cretaceous fragmentation and drift of theIndian plate. He has handled many international collaborative programmes and collaborated with many organizations i.e., Laboratoire de Paléontologie, ISEM, cc 064, Université Montpellier II, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France; Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544, USA; Geology Discipline Group, School of Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi; Department of Geology, Lucknow University, Lucknow; Department of Geological Sciences and Museum of Natural History, University of Colorado, UCB 265, Boulder, CO 80309, USA; Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente (CONICET-INIBIOMA), Quintral 1250, 8400 San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA etc. He has to his credit several exciting fossil discoveries from the Late Cretaceous of India. Prof. Khosla's perseverance and commitment led to the first classification of Indian dinosaur eggs and their comparison with eggs from Europe and South America, the discovery of the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary (central India), discoveries of the biota from dinosaur coprolites, and discoveries of Cenomanian-Turonian and Maastrichtian theropod dinosaur skeletal material, exotic mammals, ostracods, charophytes, and planktic foraminiferans from Upper Cretaceous rocks. He has published several research papers in peer-reviewed national/international journals, apart from a few in press, in high impact factor journals, including two papers in Science and other journals, for instance. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Global and Planetary Change, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, Geological Journal, Cretaceous Research, Historical Biology, Acta Geologica Polonica, etc. He has already successfully completed six research projects funded by the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India), New Delhi. He has published two important books. First on the global Cretaceous (Cretaceous Period: Biotic Diversity and Biogeography). The volume was published in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin in 2016 and the second on the Indian Late Cretaceous dinosaur eggs of peninsular India in October, 2020 (Springer Nature, Switzerland).

Dr. Omkar Verma is an Assistant Professor of Geology at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Geology from the University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India. He is the recipient of a Senior Research Fellowship and Research Associateship of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. He also completed a research project funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi. He led several expeditions to the Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago) deposits of western, central, southern and southeastern India in search of small vertebrates that had lived in the shadow of dinosaurs. He has published more than 27 research articles in peer-reviewed national and international journals. He is the life member of the Geological Society of India, Indian Science Congress Association, Palaeontological Society of India, Indian Geological Congress and Gondwana Geological Society. His research focuses on palaeobiodiversity, biotic evolution, palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and palaeoclimate with reference to the northward drift of the Indian plate.

Mr. Sachin Kania did his masters at Kurukshetra University, Harayan, India. Presently, he has submitted a PhD. in the Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. His research interest includes micropalaeontology, the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography.

Dr. Spencer G. Lucas is a stratigrapher and palaeontologist who has been Curator of Geology and Palaeontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA) since 1988. He received his B.A. degree from the University of New Mexico (1976) and M.S. (1979) and Ph.D. (1984) degrees from Yale University. His research has focused on biostratigraphic problems of the late Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic. He is a paleontologist with a specialization in the study of vertebrate fossils and continental deposits, particularly in New Mexico. He has extensive field experience in the western United States as well as northern Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Kazakstan, Nicaragua, Soviet Georgia and the People's Republic of China. Lucas has published more than 1000 scientific articles and co-edited 14 books and is the author of three dinosaur books. He has been on the editorial boards ofIchnos, Geological Society of America Bulletin, New Mexico Geology, New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, Journal of Palaeogeography and Revista Geologica de America Central, among others. In 1991, he founded the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin and is its Chief Editor. He has conducted extensive research on Cretaceous rocks and fossils in North America and Asia and has 27 years of museum experience and five years of teaching experience at the university level. Lucas has raised approximately $1,000,000,000 in grants and contracts. He has been awarded Clay Minerals Society, Pioneer in Clay Science Lecture Award in 2007; Elected Honorary Member, New Mexico Geological Society in 1994; 1989 Coelophysis Society Research Award, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in 1989 and Philip M. Orville Prize for outstanding graduate student research ingeology, Yale University in 1982. He is an honorary member of the New Mexico Geological Society and life member of the New Mexico Academy of Science.

教授（博士）阿舒·科斯拉於1991年獲得碩士學位，並於1997年1月在旁遮普大學獲得地質學博士學位，隨後於1997至1998年在法國蒙彼利埃大學進行博士後研究，專注於印度和歐洲的恐龍蛋及其古生物地理學意涵。目前，他是旁遮普大學（昌迪加爾）地質學系的教授及主任/系主任。他的研究專長包括古生物學（微古生物學、脊椎動物古生物學、古植物學、古生物地理學、古生態學、古環境學、地層學及生物地層學）。他在本科及研究生層級的教學經驗超過25年，主要領域為古生物學和地層學。他的研究工作在全球古生物學家和古生物地理學家中獲得認可，涵蓋了如脊椎動物及與印度板塊白堊紀分裂和漂移相關的微生物群的演化、多樣性和生物地理學等多樣議題。他參與了多個國際合作計畫，並與多個機構合作，包括法國蒙彼利埃大學的Laboratoire de Paléontologie、密西根大學的古生物學博物館、美國普林斯頓大學的地球科學系、印度新德里的印度甘地國家開放大學科學學院、印度勒克瑙大學地質學系、科羅拉多大學的地質科學系及自然歷史博物館、阿根廷的CONICET-INIBIOMA生物多樣性與環境研究所、以及美國新墨西哥州的自然歷史與科學博物館等。他在印度晚白堊紀有多項令人興奮的化石發現。科斯拉教授的堅持和承諾促成了印度恐龍蛋的首次分類，並與來自歐洲和南美的蛋進行比較，發現了白堊紀-古新世界限（印度中部）、從恐龍糞化石中發現的生物群，以及從上白堊紀岩石中發現的塞諾曼-土侖期和馬斯特里赫特期的獸腳類恐龍骨骼材料、異域哺乳動物、橈足類、藻類及浮游有孔蟲。他已在多本高影響因子的同行評審國際期刊上發表了多篇研究論文，包括《科學》及其他期刊，如《地球與行星科學快報》、《全球與行星變化》、《古地理學、古氣候學、古生態學》、《亞洲地球科學期刊》、《脊椎動物古生物學期刊》、《地質期刊》、《白堊紀研究》、《歷史生物學》、《波蘭地質學報》等。他已成功完成六個由印度政府科學與技術部資助的研究項目。他出版了兩本重要的書籍，第一本是關於全球白堊紀的《白堊紀：生物多樣性與生物地理學》，該書於2016年在《新墨西哥自然歷史與科學博物館公報》上出版，第二本是關於印度半島晚白堊紀恐龍蛋的書籍，於2020年10月出版（施普林格自然，瑞士）。

奧姆卡爾·維爾瑪博士是印度新德里印度甘地國家開放大學的地質學助理教授。他在印度查謨和克什米爾的查謨大學獲得碩士和博士學位。他是新德里科學與工業研究委員會的高級研究獎學金和研究助理的獲得者。他還完成了一個由科學與技術部資助的研究項目。