Open Paleo

Rahiolisaurus

Novas et al., 2010 RA-hee-O-lee-SOR-us

Named after Rahioli, the village in Gujarat, India, near where the fossils were recovered, combined with Greek 'sauros' (lizard).

72.2–66.0 million years ago Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Rahiolisaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur which existed in India during the Late Cretaceous period. It was described in 2010, based on fossils recovered from the Lameta Formation in the Indian state of Gujarat. These fossils include elements from at least seven different individuals and are believed to have been from the Maastrichtian stage, sometime between 70 and 66 million years ago, making it one of the last non-avian dinosaurs known in the fossil record. Despite representing a variety of different growth stages, all recovered fossils from the locality indicate a single species, the type species Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis.

Under dispute

The placement of Rahiolisaurus is disputed. It was included in Majungasaurinae by the erecting analysis (Tortosa and colleagues, 2014), whereas Filippi and colleagues (2016) recovered it as a basal brachyrostran and later analyses find it unstable — Pol and colleagues (2024) could not place it, pruning it from their consensus.

Diagnosis

  1. Premaxillary interdental plates fused and lacking vertical ridges
  2. Dental foramina absent
  3. Premaxillary teeth with teardrop-shaped cross section, faint mesial keel, rounded distal edge
  4. Iliac blade with deep caudal notch on postacetabular process
  5. Metatarsal I rod-like
  6. Metatarsal II strongly narrow proximally

Species

Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis Novas et al., 2010

Type species

Named for Gujarat, the Indian state where the fossils were recovered from the Lameta Formation.

Holotype
ISIR 550, ISIR 554, ISIR 557 , Geology Museum, Indian Statistical Institute
Material
Right ilium, right pubis, and right femur found in association
Horizon
Lameta Formation, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 72.2–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Rahioli village, Gujarat, India The coordinate Novas and colleagues (2010) print is the figure Wilson and colleagues (2003) give for Temple Hill, which Novas places 400 meters northwest of this quarry.

References

  1. Novas, F. E.; Chatterjee, S.; Rudra, D. K.; Datta, P. M. (2010). Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis, n. gen. n. sp., A New Abelisaurid Theropod from the Late Cretaceous of India. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 45-62. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-10311-7_3 novas2010b
  2. Tortosa, T.; Buffetaut, E.; Vialle, N.; Dutour, Y.; Turini, E.; Cheylan, G. (2014). A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern France: Palaeobiogeographical implications. Annales de Paléontologie 100(1): 63-86. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2013.10.003

    The erecting analysis for Majungasaurinae; recovered Rahiolisaurus within it.

    tortosa2014a
  3. Filippi, L. S.; Méndez, A. H.; Juárez Valieri, R. D.; Garrido, A. C. (2016). A new brachyrostran with hypertrophied axial structures reveals an unexpected radiation of latest Cretaceous abelisaurids. Cretaceous Research 61: 209-219. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.12.018

    Recovered Rahiolisaurus as a basal brachyrostran, sister to Dahalokely.

    filippi2016a
  4. Pol, D.; Baiano, M. A.; Černý, D.; Novas, F. E.; Cerda, I. A.; Pittman, M. (2024). A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the end Cretaceous of Patagonia and evolutionary rates among the Ceratosauria. Cladistics 40(3): 307-356. Wiley. doi:10.1111/cla.12583

    Found Rahiolisaurus unstable, pruning it from the consensus.

    pol2024a
  5. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026c
  6. Wilson, J. A.; Sereno, P. C.; Srivastava, S.; Bhatt, D. K.; Khosla, A.; Sahni, A. (2003). A new abelisaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of India. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 31(1): 1-42.

    Source of the Temple Hill coordinate.

    wilson2003a