Early Miocene marine ostracods from southwestern India: implications for their biogeography and the closure of the Tethyan Seaway

Twenty-six genera and 34 species of early Miocene Indian shallow-marine ostracods were examined for taxonomy and paleobiogeography. A new genus Paractinocythereis and new species Costa ponticulocarinata were described. Early Miocene Indian ostracod fauna shows strong affinity to Eocene–Miocene Eastern and Western Tethyan ostracod faunas and Miocene–Recent Indo-Pacific ostracod fauna, supporting the Hopping Hotspot Hypothesis that Tethyan biodiversity hotspot have shifted eastward through Arabia to Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA) together with concomitant biogeographic shifts of the Tethyan elements. The result also indicated an inverse westward distributional shift in a genus. It is important to note that Paleogene and Miocene shallow-marine ostracods from the IAA region remain poorly investigated, and more fossil ostracod data is needed to better test the Hopping Hotspot Hypothesis.