Dinosaur that roamed India 220 million years ago identified as Maleriraptor kuttyi

Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur that roamed in India. The dinosaur has been named Maleriraptor kuttyi and lived nearly 220 million years ago during the Norian age of the Triassic period. It belongs to the Herrerasauria group of small- to medium-sized carnivores. The discovery of Maleriraptor kuttyi proves for the first time that herrerasaurs survived a massive upheaval in Gondwana that killed a group of herbivorous dinosaurs.

The research and the discovery were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

The researchers said that till now, only four species of the Herrerasaurs had been found in Argentina and southern Brazil (233-229 million years ago). "These species are bipedal forms ranging from 3.9-19.7 feet in total length," Dr. Martín Ezcurra, a palaeontologist who was involved in the study, stated.

Also Read: Mayans ritually dismembered over 100 humans, proof found in Guatemala 'blood cave'

Ezcurra works with the Bernardino Rivadavia Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences ( MACN ), the University of Birmingham and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, an Argentine government agency.

Herrerasaurs were believed to live outside South America, but where exactly?

He further says that the first time the possibility of herrerasaurs existing outside of South America was raised was in the mid-1990s. At that time, the Chindesaurus bryansmalli from middle-upper Norian levels was cited from the Chinle Formation of North America.

The remains of Maleriraptor kuttyi were first collected from the Pranhita-Godavari Valley, a kilometre from the Annaram village in south-central India, in the early 1980s. Palaeontologists who were part of the study say that this region "preserves a dinosaur assemblage slightly younger than the initial Carnian radiation of the group."

Also Read: When will the universe die? In about 1 QUINVIGINTILLION years

Maleriraptor kuttyi survived a mass extinction event

The researchers say the discovery of the remains of Maleriraptor kuttyi is proof that these dinosaurs survived a mass extinction of rhynchosaurs, a herbivorous species of dinosaurs, around 227-220 million years ago.

“The discovery of Maleriraptor kuttyi shows that herrerasaurs survived in Gondwana at least during the early Norian after the event that vanished the rhynchosaurs,” the study authors wrote.

The researchers also pointed out the reason for the herrerasaurs being found in the early Norian of India and not in South America. They believe that this could be because of the mean temperatures in India, which were similar to those in southern North America during the Norian.

"The more similar palaeoclimate between India and southern North America can explain the presence of common faunistic components that are absent in south-central South America (or are extremely rare), such as phytosaurs, herrerasaurs, protopyknosians and malerisaurine allokotosaurs," they wrote.