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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}}<br />
{{Automatic taxobox<br />
| fossil_range = [[Early Jurassic]], {{Fossil range|196.5|183}}<br />
| image = Kotasauraus.jpg<br />
| image_caption = Mounted skeleton of ''Kotasaurus''<br />
| taxon = Kotasaurus<br />
| authority = Yadagiri, 1988<br />
| type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis'''''<br />
| type_species_authority = Yadagiri, 1988<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''''Kotasaurus''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|oʊ|t|ə|ˈ|s|ɔː|r|ə|s}} {{respell|KOH|tə|SAWR|əs}}; meaning "[[Kota Formation]] lizard") is a [[genus]] of [[sauropod]] [[dinosaur]] from the Early [[Jurassic]] period ([[Sinemurian]]–[[Pliensbachian]]<ref name="bandyopadhyay_2010"/>). The only known species is ''Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis''. It was discovered in the [[Kota Formation]] of [[Telangana]], [[India]] and shared its habitat with the related ''[[Barapasaurus]]''. So far the remains of at least 12 individuals are known. The greater part of the skeleton is known, but the skull is missing, with the exception of two teeth.<ref name="yadagiri_2001"/> Like all sauropods, it was a large, quadrupedal herbivore with long neck and tail.<br />
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== Description ==<br />
[[File:Kotasauraus adilabad.jpg|thumb|left|Legs of ''Kotasaurus'']]<br />
''Kotasaurus'' is one of the most basal sauropods known. The general body plan was that of a typical sauropod, but in several basal ([[plesiomorphic]]) features it resembles [[prosauropod]]s.<ref name="yadagiri_2001"/> Like all sauropods, ''Kotasaurus'' was an obligate quadruped,<ref name="glut"/> while prosauropods were primitively bipedal. The body length is estimated at roughly nine meters, with a weight of 2.5 tonnes,<ref name="paul_2010"/> and therefore already comparable with that of later sauropods. The [[femur]] was straight and oval in cross section, which means that the limbs were already columnar. The teeth were spoon-shaped, like those of later sauropods. Basal features, on the other hand, include the relatively short and slightly twisted [[humerus]], as well as the retention of a [[lesser trochanter]] on the femur. The neural spines of the vertebrae were simply built and their centra are massive, in contrast to those of the related ''Barapasaurus'', which show more hollowing, be it without pneumatisation, of the sides as a weight-saving measure.<ref name="yadagiri_2001"/><br />
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[[Autapomorphy|Autapomorphies]] (newly acquired features) include the relatively slender limb bones as well as the low and elongated preacetabular process (the forward-pointing process of the [[Ilium (bone)|ilium]]).<ref name="yadagiri_2001"/><br />
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== Classification ==<br />
Initially, it was not clear if ''Kotasaurus'' represented a true sauropod or a basal sauropodomorph that has to be classified outside Sauropoda.<ref name="glut"/> Some paleontologists placed it inside a basal sauropod family called Vulcanodontidae though, together with ''[[Barapasaurus]]'' and the fragmentary ''[[Ohmdenosaurus]]'' and ''[[Zizhongosaurus]]''. This grouping is now recognized to be [[paraphyletic]].<ref name="yadagiri_2001"/><br />
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Today ''Kotasaurus'' is recognized as one of the most basal sauropods known. The exact relationships are not entirely clear, however. A recent study by Bandyopadhyay ''et al.'' (2010) renders ''Kotasaurus'' to be more basal than ''Barapasaurus'' and ''Vulcanodon'' but more derived than ''[[Jingshanosaurus]]'', ''[[Antetonitrus]]'' and ''[[Chinshakiangosaurus]]''.<ref name="bandyopadhyay_2010"/><br />
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== Discovery ==<br />
All known fossils come from an area of 2,400 m² near the village of [[Yemanapalli|Yamanpalli]] in [[Telangana]], approximately forty kilometres north of the ''Barapasaurus'' type locality. These finds, altogether 840 skeletal parts, were found in the late 1970s.<ref name="glut"/> In 1988 they were named and described by P.M. Yadagiri as a new genus and species of sauropod, ''Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis''. The generic name refers to the [[Kota Formation]]. The [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] reflects the provenance from Yamanpalli. The [[holotype]] is '''21/SR/PAL''', an ilium.<ref name="yadagiri 1988"/><br />
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The [[Geological Survey of India]] combined several elements into a skeletal mount and displayed it at the [[Birla Science Museum]], [[Hyderabad]].<ref name="yadagiri_2001"/> In 2001, Yadagiri described the osteology in more detail.<ref name="yadagiri_2001"/><br />
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==References==<br />
<references><br />
<ref name="yadagiri 1988"><br />
{{Cite journal<br />
| volume = 11<br />
| pages = 102–127<br />
| last = Yadagiri<br />
| first = P.<br />
| title = A new sauropod Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis from Lower Jurassic Kota Formation of India<br />
| journal = Records of the Geological Survey of India<br />
| year = 1988<br />
}}<br />
</ref><br />
<ref name="yadagiri_2001"><br />
{{Cite journal<br />
| volume = 21<br />
| issue = 2<br />
| pages = 242–252<br />
| last = Yadagiri<br />
| first = P.<br />
| title = The osteology of Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis, a sauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Kota Formation of India<br />
| journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology<br />
| year = 2001<br />
| doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0242:TOOKYA]2.0.CO;2<br />
}}<br />
</ref><br />
<ref name="bandyopadhyay_2010"><br />
{{Cite journal<br />
| doi = 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00933.x<br />
| issn = 1475-4983<br />
| volume = 53<br />
| issue = 3<br />
| pages = 533–569<br />
| last = Bandyopadhyay<br />
| first = Saswati<br />
|author2=David D. Gillette |author3=Sanghamitra Ray |author4=Dhurjati P. Sengupta<br />
| title = Osteology of Barapasaurus tagorei (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Early Jurassic of India<br />
| journal = Palaeontology<br />
| year = 2010<br />
| doi-access = free<br />
}}<br />
</ref><br />
<ref name="glut"><br />
{{Cite book<br />
| publisher = McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers<br />
| isbn = 978-0-375-82419-7<br />
| last = Glut<br />
| first = Donald F.<br />
| title = Dinosaurs, the encyclopedia<br />
| year = 1997<br />
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/dinosaursmostcom00holt/page/521 521–522]<br />
| url-access = registration<br />
| url = https://archive.org/details/dinosaursmostcom00holt/page/521<br />
}}<br />
</ref><br />
<ref name="paul_2010"><br />
{{Cite book<br />
| publisher = Princeton University Press<br />
| isbn = 9780691137209<br />
| last = Paul<br />
| first = Gregory S.<br />
| title = The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs<br />
| date = 2010-09-21<br />
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/princetonfieldgu0000paul/page/172 172]<br />
| url = https://archive.org/details/princetonfieldgu0000paul/page/172<br />
}}<br />
</ref><br />
</references><br />
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{{Sauropodomorpha|B.}}<br />
{{Taxonbar|from=Q135306}}<br />
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[[Category:Sauropods]]<br />
[[Category:Dinosaurs of India and Madagascar]]<br />
[[Category:Early Jurassic dinosaurs of Asia]]<br />
[[Category:Pliensbachian life]]<br />
[[Category:Sinemurian life]]<br />
[[Category:Fossils of India]]<br />
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1988]]</div>>ShortDescBot