| Dandakosaurus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Speculativelife restoration ofDandakosaurus as amegalosauroid | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Averostra |
| Genus: | †Dandakosaurus Yadagiri, 1982 |
| Species: | †D. indicus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Dandakosaurus indicus Yadagiri,1982 | |
Dandakosaurus (meaning "Dandakaranya lizard") is adubiousgenus oftheropoddinosaur from theKota Formation,Andhra Pradesh,India. It lived 183 to 175 million years ago from the latestPliensbachian to the lateToarcian stages of theEarly Jurassic. Little is known about the genus, and somepaleontologists consider it to be anomen dubium.
The holotype is partial proximalpubis,GSI 1/54Y/76, discovered in theKota Formation ofIndia between 1958 and 1961 and was described as an indeterminatecarnosaur in 1962.[1][2] Other material referred to the genus include dorsal vertebrae, caudal vertebrae, a tooth and a partial ischium. The type species,D. indicus, was named by Ponnala Yadagiri in 1982.[3][2]
The tooth was described as being recurved and heavily compressed. The distal carina possessed small denticles.[3] The carinae were positioned centrally and the tooth was subsymmetrical labial and distal profiles.[4] The dorsal vertebrae lack pleurocoels and opisthocoelous. The caudal vertebrae bore depressions on the lateral sides. It was amphicoelous and had a keel on its ventral side. It is possible that the vertebrae belong to asauropodomorph. The obturator fenestra of the pubis is absent, instead being an obturator notch.[5] The pubis is unique in that it points ventrally, unlike the usual forward-facing condition seen insaurischians, giving it a mesopubic condition.[6]
In 2016, Molina-Pérez and Larramendi estimatedDandakosaurus at 10 m (33 ft) in length and 2.3 t (2.5 short tons) in weight.[7]
Dandakosaurus is currently classified asAverostraincertae sedis, variously suggested to be a basalceratosaur[8] orbasaltetanuran.[2][5][9]
.png)