- The fossilised remains of a plant-eating dicraeosaurid dinosaur named ‘Tharosaurus Indicus’ were discovered in Jaisalmer recently.
- Tharosaurus indicus is the name given to an ancient species of dinosaur unearthed in Jaisalmer, India’s Thar Desert.
- It’s a dicraeosaurid dinosaur, which were long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs that lived throughout the Jurassic period.
- Tharosaurus indicus bones were discovered to be roughly 167 million years old, making them one of the world’s oldest known dicraeosaurids and diplodocoids.
The importance of the finding
- Dicraeosaurids were renowned for their unusual body proportions and had considerably shorter necks than other sauropod dinosaurs.
- This newly discovered species sheds light on the diversity of prehistoric life that existed in the region at the time.
- The name “Tharosaurus indicus” refers to its provenance, with “Thar” referring to the Thar Desert and “indicus” indicating that it originated in India.
- This discovery highlights India’s historical relevance in palaeontology and advances our understanding of dinosaur evolution on a worldwide scale.
Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Titanosaurus-indicus-Holotypic-distal-caudal-vertebra-in-ventral-A-right-lateral-B_fig3_40662783