Tharosaurus indicus

August 9, 2023

The fossil remains of 167-million-years-old long-necked, plant-eating dicraeosaurid dinosaur have been discovered in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
Scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) managed to unearth the prehistoric findings.
- The fossils were collected from the Jaisalmer region in 2018 and a group of six researchers from the two institutes, spent almost five years studying them.
It is named as ‘Tharosaurus indicus’– the nomenclature paints a vivid picture—’Thar desert’, the very cradle of discovery, and ‘Indicus’, an ode to its country of origin, India.
The discovery of the fossils, of all the places in India, suggests that the country also played a small yet unexpected part in the dinosaur evolution cycle.
Researchers said since the fossils were found in rocks dated to be around 167 million years old, it makes Indian sauropod not only the oldest known dicraeosaurid but also globally the oldest diplodocoid (broader group which includes dicraeosaurids and other closely related sauropods).
Previously, dicraeosaurid dinosaurs fossils have been discovered in North and South America, Africa and China but never in India.