On a New Fossil Fish Known from an Otolith from the South Indian Cenomanian

A brief reference is made to the abundant occurrence of fish ossiculiths in the Odhium Clay member of the Utatur Group of the Trichinopoly District, South India. The first fossil otolith (sagittal) from India in the same clay has been shown to be the first Cenomanian otolith of the world. After discussing the relationship of the Indian otolith to the already known Mesozoic otoliths, new Linnean taxa of the rank of family (Lycoclupeidae) , genus (Lycoclupea) and species (menakiae) are instituted. Although the age of the new taxa is Upper Cenomanian, a suggestion as to its probable range in time, from Cenomanian to Dogger, is made for future verification.