JOIN USProbable Titanosaurus remnants found in Meghalaya hills
Meghalaya may soon throw more light on the distribution and diversity of Titanosaurus, the first Indian dinosaur as geologists recently discovered sauropods of probable Titanosauraus origin, from the Northeastern state's West Khasi Hills district.
If scientifically proven, Meghalaya could become the fifth Indian state after Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to report Sauropod bones having Titanosaurian affinity.
A team from Palaeontology division of the Geological Survey of India (North-East Region) discovered the vertebrate fossil bone fragments from the lower part of the Mahadek Formation of Maastrichtian age from Mawphuli and Dirang villages near Ranikor in the South West Khasi Hills district.
The bone fragments were collected from poorly sorted, purplish to greenish very coarse grained arkosic sandstone interlaid with pebbly beds of Mahadek Formation.
The GSI on Thursday said more than 25 disarticulated, mostly fragmentary bone specimens were recovered during the survey. "They are of different sizes and occur as isolated specimens but some of them were found in close proximity to each other. Only three of the best-preserved ones could be studied. The largest one is a partially preserved limb bone of 55cm long," it said.
The GSI said the titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs were the most diverse and abundant large-bodied terrestrial herbivores in the Southern Hemisphere landmasses during the Cretaceous Period but they were not endemic to the Gondwanan landmasses.
"In India, the Late Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur generally belong to the titanosaurian clade and has been reported from the Lameta Formation of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and Kallamedu Formation of Tamil Nadu," it said.
Arindam Roy, senior geologist, Palaeontology division said dinosaur bones from Meghalaya were reported by GSI in 2002 but they were too fragmentary and ill-preserved to understand its taxonomic identification.
"The abundance of bones recovered during the present work and especially the finding of few limb bones and vertebrae having taxonomic characters of Titanosauri form clade is unique. The record of the sauropod assemblage of probable titanosaurian affinity from Meghalaya extends the distribution and diversity of vertebrates in the Late Cretaceous of India," Roy said.