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2021-03-27T15:35:32Z

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{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = ''Brachypodosaurus''
| fossil_range = [[Late Cretaceous]], {{fossilrange|66|earliest=70.6}}
| image =
| image_caption =
| parent_authority = [[Dhirendra Kishore Chakravarti|Chakravarti]], 1934
| authority = Chakravarti, 1934
| taxon = Brachypodosaurus gravis
}}

'''''Brachypodosaurus''''' (meaning "short-footed lizard") is a [[nomen dubium|dubious]] [[genus]] of [[dinosaur]], possibly an [[ornithischia]]n, from the Late [[Cretaceous]] [[Lameta Formation]] ([[Maastrichtian]]) in [[India]].

The only remains discovered so far for this animal consist of a single [[fossil]] bone, excavated at the Chota Simla Hill near [[Jabalpur]]. In 1934, geologist [[Dhirendra Kishore Chakravarti]], of the Geological Museum of the [[Banaras Hindu University]], considered it a [[humerus]], of a [[stegosauria]]n. He named it as the [[type species]] ''Brachypodosaurus gravis''. The generic name is derived from Greek βραχύς, ''brachys'', "short", and πούς, ''pous'', "foot". The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] ''gravis'' means "heavy" in [[Latin]].<ref>Chakravarti, D. K., 1934, "On a stegosaurian humerus from the Lameta beds of Jubbulpore", ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological, Mining, and Metallurgical Society of India'', 30; 75-79</ref> Chakravarti hereby became the first local scientist to name a dinosaur.

The [[holotype]] is '''IM V9'''. The bone is over a foot long. Chakravarti based his identification of the element as a humerus on the presence of a large crest on the shaft, which he took for the deltopectoral crest. The status as a (dinosaurian) humerus is problematic. The bone is flat, has a crest on the other side of the shaft also, is not twisted around its longitudinal axis, is strongly constricted above and below the crests and lacks a clear ''caput'' or condyles. In any case, it lacks stegosaurian [[synapomorphies]].<ref>Wilson, J. A., P. C. Sereno, S. Srivastava, D. K. Bhatt, A. Khosla, and A. Sahni. 2003. "A new abelisaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of India", Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology of the University of Michigan, 31:1–42</ref> On the assumption it might at least be some member of the [[Thyreophora]], it has been considered a possible [[ankylosaurian]], the ankylosaurs being a [[sister group]] of the [[Stegosauria]] that survived into the [[Late Cretaceous]]. Even then, however, it was considered a ''[[nomen dubium]]'' as so few remains of the animal have been found.<ref>[[Teresa Maryańska|Maryanska T.]], 1977. "Ankylosauridae (Dinosauria) from Mongolia", Palaeontologia Polonica 37:85-151</ref> In 2004, [[Matthew Lamanna]] e.a. considered it unlikely that any [[Ornithischia]] were present in the Maastrichtian of India.<ref>Lamanna, M.C., J.B. Smith, Y.S. Attia, and P. Dodson, 2004, "From dinosaurs to dyrosaurids (Crocodyliformes): removal of the post-Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) record of Ornithischia from Africa", ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' '''24''': 764-768</ref> The other Late Cretaceous genus from India originally described as a [[stegosaur]], ''[[Dravidosaurus]]'', is also a ''nomen dubium'' based on [[plesiosauria]]n remains.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q676157}}

[[Category:Thyreophorans]]
[[Category:Late Cretaceous dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs of India and Madagascar]]
[[Category:Maastrichtian life]]
[[Category:Fossils of India]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1934]]
[[Category:Nomina dubia]]

{{ornithischian-stub}}

Brachypodosaurus - Revision history

imported>ShortDescBot at 15:35, 27 March 2021