Open Paleo

Dandakosaurus

Yadagiri, 1982 DAN-duh-ko-SOR-us Nomen dubium

Named after Dandakaranya, the ancient name for the region of central India (Andhra Pradesh) where the fossils were found, + Greek sauros ('lizard'), meaning 'Dandakaranya lizard'.

199.5–184.2 million years ago Sinemurian–Pliensbachian, Early Jurassic
Early Jurassic stages

Dandakosaurus is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Kota Formation, Andhra Pradesh, India. It lived 183 to 175 million years ago from the latest Pliensbachian to the late Toarcian stages of the Early Jurassic. Little is known about the genus, and some paleontologists consider it to be a nomen dubium.

Species

Dandakosaurus indicus Yadagiri, 1982 Nomen dubium

Type species

From Latin 'indicus' meaning 'Indian' or 'of India', after the country in which the holotype was found.

Holotype
GSI 1/54Y/76 , Geological Survey of India
Material
Proximal end of pubis
Horizon
Kota Formation, Sinemurian–Pliensbachian, Early Jurassic , 199.5–184.2 million years ago
Locality
5 km west of Yamanpalli, Telangana, India

References

  1. Yadagiri, P. (1982). Osteological studies of a carnosaurian dinosaur from Lower Jurassic Kota Formation: Andhra Pradesh. Progress Report for Field Season Programme 1981-82 1-6. Geological Survey of India, Regional Palaeontological Laboratories, Southern Region. yadagiri1982a
  2. Molina-Pérez, R.; Larramendi, A. (2019). Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Theropods and Other Dinosauriformes. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    molina-pérez2019a
  3. Chure, D. J. (2000). A new species of Allosaurus from the Morrison Formation of Dinosaur National Monument (UT-CO) and a revision of the theropod family Allosauridae. Doctoral thesis, Columbia University.

    Finds the type pubis not diagnostic and calls the genus a nomen dubium, Theropoda incertae sedis; reads the opisthocoelous dorsal as carnosaur-like but doubts it belongs with the type.

    chure2000a
  4. Ezcurra, M. D.; Butler, R. J.; Maidment, S. C. R.; Sansom, I. J.; Meade, L. E.; Radley, J. D. (2020). A revision of the early neotheropod genus Sarcosaurus from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) of central England. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 191: 113-149. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa054

    Reads the opisthocoelous dorsal vertebrae referred to the genus as those of an averostran theropod.

    ezcurra2020a