Nambalia
Derived from Nambal village, located near the discovery site in Telangana, central India
Late Triassic stages
Nambalia is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Late Triassic period (late Norian to earliest Rhaetian) in what is now Telangana, central India. It is known from the holotype ISIR 273, parts 1-3, partially articulated postcranial material and from the paratypes ISIR 273, parts 4-29, including partial postcrania of at least two individuals of different sizes found closely associated and one of them is nearly the same size as the holotype.
Diagnosis
- Femur with almost transversely unexpanded distal end and shallow distal anterior intercondylar groove
- Astragalus with pit on anterior surface of ascending process
- Astragalar anterolateral process larger than posterolateral process in dorsal view
- Astragalar ventral margin straight in anterior view
- Astragalus with sub-triangular medial condyle in anterior view
Species
Nambalia roychowdhurii Novas et al., 2010
Type species
Named for Dr. Roy Chowdhuri, honoring research on the Triassic vertebrate faunas of India.
- Holotype
- ISIR 273/1, ISIR 273/2, ISIR 273/3 , Geology Museum, Indian Statistical Institute
- Material
- Right ilium, left femur, and distal half of left tibia and fibula with articulated astragalus and calcaneum
- Horizon
- upper Maleri Formation, Norian, Late Triassic , 227.3–205.7 million years ago
- Locality
- north of Nambal village, Telangana, India
References
- Novas, F. E.; Ezcurra, M. D.; Chatterjee, S.; Kutty, T. S. (2010). New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of Central India. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101(3-4): 333-349. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/S1755691011020093 novas2010a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length estimate.
jones2026b