Dravidosaurus

• India

• D. blanfordi Yadagiri & Ayyasami, 1979

Dravidosaurus is a controversial among experts genus of dinosaur bird Beck from the group of Stegosauria. It is the geologically youngest Stegosaurus, but the underlying fossil remains of Chatterjee and Rudma (1996) and Chatterjee (1997) than that of a Plesiosaur be interpreted. Dravidosaurus was in the 1970s in southern India discovered ( Tamil Nadu ) and named after the Dravidian peoples living there.

Features

Dravidosaurus was a small Stegosaurier, of which only portions of the skull and the body of the skeleton are known. The head was relatively small and characterized in that the orbit was surrounded by two Supra orbital bones. There are also several examples of typical Stegosauria bone plates, these were large and triangular. Tail spines, another typical feature of Stegosaurus - were also present; these were characterized by the remarkably longer middle section.

Dating and systematics

The findings of Dravidosaurus be in the upper Cretaceous ( Coniacian ) dated at 89-86 million years. It is the geologically youngest known Stegosaurus - which are otherwise only to the Lower Cretaceous known - and the first found in India. It is conceivable that the Stegosaurus in the geographic isolation of India ( an island at that time was the subcontinent) longer than elsewhere could have survived during the Cretaceous period.

The findings are, however, very poorly delivered, and some researchers such as Sankar Chatterjee keep the animal for a representative of plesiosaurs. Peter Galton and Paul Upchurch, however, assume that it is a stegosaurus, but keep that further investigation is necessary.