An oligocene non-marine ostracod fauna from the Basgo Formation (Ladakh molasse), NW Himalaya, India

A small fauna of three species of non-marine cypridacean Ostracoda has been recovered from the Basgo Formation of the Ladakh Molasse in the North Western Himalaya, India. All three species are new and are described herein. They are: Dongyingia sannionis sp. nov., Candona himalaica sp. nov. and Eucypris alpina sp. nov. Previous palaeontological data from the Basgo Formation, although embracing a number of vertebrate and invertebrate groups and also charophytes, have been rather poor and have not allowed anything other than a somewhat conjectural age determination. However, the genus Dongyingia is only known elsewhere from the Upper Oligocene of China, where it is an abundant and characteristic component of non-marine sequences. The overall excellent preservation of the Ostracoda in this study militates against their having been derived and, thus, provides good evidence for a Late Oligocene age for the Basgo Formation.