Indosaurus

Not to be confused with Indosuchus.
Indosaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 69 Ma
↓
Skull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Family: †Abelisauridae
Subfamily: †Majungasaurinae
Genus: †Indosaurus
Species: †I. matleyi
Binomial name
Indosaurus matleyi
Matley & Huene, 1933

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

The fossil evidence from Jabalpur, India, includes the now-lost[1] 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. It is possible instead that the two land masses 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.[2] 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

Notes

  1. ↑ S. Chatterjee, 1978, "Indosuchus and Indosaurus, Cretaceous carnosaurs from India", Journal of Paleontology 52(3): 570-580
  2. ↑ 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

References

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