Indosaurus

Indosaurus (meaning "Indian lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur once living in what is now India.[1] It lived about 69 to 66 million years ago, in the Maastrichtian division of the Late Cretaceous.[2] It weighed roughly 700 kg (1540 lb).

Not to be confused with Indosuchus.

Indosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 69–66 Ma
↓
Skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Family: †Abelisauridae
Subfamily: †Majungasaurinae
Genus: †Indosaurus
Species:
†I. matleyi
Binomial name
†Indosaurus matleyi
Matley & Huene, 1933

The fossil evidence from Jabalpur, India, includes the now-lost[3] holotype GSI K27/565, a partial skull of unusual thickness found by Charles Alfred Matley in the Lameta Formation; other parts of the skeleton have later been referred to it. The cranium suggests that Indosaurus may have had horns above its eyes, although all the fossil evidence has since been lost. Indosaurus may have been related to the unusual South American dinosaur, Carnotaurus. If this is the case, then India had not been a separate continent for the previous 100 million years, as many paleontologists had thought. Instead, the two land masses possibly were connected intermittently by land bridges, allowing dinosaurs from both areas to migrate.

The type species, Indosaurus matleyi, was named by Huene and Matley in 1933.[4] The generic name refers to India. The specific name honours Matley. This species now also includes Megalosaurus matleyi; confusingly, the dubious tooth taxon Orthogoniosaurus shares the same specific name (but is based on different material). Some paleontologists have speculated that Indosuchus and Compsosuchus should also be included within Indosaurus.

Originally assigned by Huene to the Allosauridae, Indosaurus is today considered a member of the Abelisauridae.

See also

References
  1. Shroff, Vaishali (12 August 2018). "Did you know about Indian dinosaurs? Meet the Rajasaurus". The Indian Express. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  2. Lopez, Rachel (4 April 2017). "A raja, a Jain, a Tagore: Meet desi dinosaurs that once roamed India's plains". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  3. S. Chatterjee, 1978, "Indosuchus and Indosaurus, Cretaceous carnosaurs from India", Journal of Paleontology 52(3): 570-580
  4. F. von Huene and C. A. Matley, 1933, "The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the Central Provinces of India", Palaeontologica Indica (New Series), Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 21(1): 1-74


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.