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The newly-decribed species roamed our planet during the Middle Jurassic period, approximately 167 million years ago.
Scientifically named Tharosaurus indicus, the ancient reptile was a type of dicraeosaurid, a family of diplodocoid sauropods that existed from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous.
First described by the German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914, dicraeosaurid fossils are known from North America, Asia, Africa, and South America.
“Sauropods, a speciose group of saurischian dinosaurs that dominated the terrestrial landscapes until the end-Cretaceous are characterized by a small skull, elongated neck and tail, columnar limbs, and a quadrupedal gait,” said Indian Institute of Technology researcher Sunil Bajpai and colleagues.
“Within Sauropoda, Dicraeosauridae represents a clade of small-bodied diplodocoids that are known for their distinctive vertebral morphology with long paired neural spines.”
“Dicraeosaurids range in age from the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous and are mostly known from the Gondwanan landmasses of Africa and South America, besides a few Laurasian occurrences in the United States and China.”
Scientifically named Tharosaurus indicus, the ancient reptile was a type of dicraeosaurid, a family of diplodocoid sauropods that existed from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous.
First described by the German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914, dicraeosaurid fossils are known from North America, Asia, Africa, and South America.
“Sauropods, a speciose group of saurischian dinosaurs that dominated the terrestrial landscapes until the end-Cretaceous are characterized by a small skull, elongated neck and tail, columnar limbs, and a quadrupedal gait,” said Indian Institute of Technology researcher Sunil Bajpai and colleagues.
“Within Sauropoda, Dicraeosauridae represents a clade of small-bodied diplodocoids that are known for their distinctive vertebral morphology with long paired neural spines.”
“Dicraeosaurids range in age from the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous and are mostly known from the Gondwanan landmasses of Africa and South America, besides a few Laurasian occurrences in the United States and China.”