Maleriraptor kuttyi existed in what is now India during the Norian stage of the Triassic period, approximately 220 million years ago. This ancient reptile belongs to Herrerasauria, a category of small to medium-sized carnivorous dinosaurs that first appeared in the fossil record around 228 million years ago and became extinct by the close of the Triassic.
“Herrerasaurs represent the earliest diversification of predatory dinosaurs,” stated Dr. Martín Ezcurra, a paleontologist affiliated with the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia,’ the University of Birmingham, and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, along with his colleagues.
“Previously, their fossil evidence was clearly limited to four recognized species found in the middle Carnian to early Norian strata of the Ischigualasto Formation in northwestern Argentina and the lower sections of the Candelária sequence in southern Brazil, dating from 233 to 229 million years ago.”
“These species are bipedal and range in length from 1.2 to 6 meters (3.9 to 19.7 feet).”
“Notably, Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis is the most frequently found dinosaur in the lower third of the stratigraphic sequence at the Hoyada de Ischigualasto locality within the Ischigualasto Formation.”
The potential existence of herrerasaurs outside South America was first proposed in the mid-1990s with the identification of Chindesaurus bryansmalli from the middle to upper Norian levels of the Chinle Formation in North America.
The fossil remains of Maleriraptor kuttyi were collected over forty years ago from the Upper Maleri Formation in the Pranhita-Godavari Valley, about 1 kilometer south of Annaram village in south-central India.
“The Upper Maleri Formation, which produced the remains of Maleriraptor kuttyi, is particularly significant for understanding the early evolution of dinosaurs, as it contains a dinosaur assemblage that is slightly younger than the initial Carnian diversification of the group,” the paleontologists noted.
According to the researchers, Maleriraptor kuttyi provides the first evidence that herrerasaurs persisted in Gondwana during the tetrapod turnover of the early Norian (227-220 million years ago), which led to the global extinction of herbivorous archosauromorph reptiles known as rhynchosaurs.
“The discovery of Maleriraptor kuttyi indicates that herrerasaurs continued to exist in Gondwana at least during the early Norian, following the extinction event that eliminated rhynchosaurs,” the authors explained.
“The presence of herrerasaurs in early Norian India, but not in South America, may be linked to climatic factors, as global paleoclimatic reconstructions suggest that India had annual temperatures and precipitation levels more akin to those of southern North America during the Norian.”
“Therefore, the climatic similarities between India and southern North America could account for shared faunal elements that are either absent or extremely rare in south-central South America, such as phytosaurs, herrerasaurs, protopyknosians, and malerisaurine allokotosaurs.”
“The deposition of the Upper Maleri Formation likely occurred soon after the extinction of rhynchosaurs, which are well-documented in the Lower Maleri Formation.”
“Similarities in fauna between the Upper Maleri Formation and the upper section of Brazil’s Santa Maria Supersequence, including the presence of unaysaurids, imply a comparable age, estimated at 225 million years in the Brazilian unit.”
“Thus, Maleriraptor kuttyi helps to bridge the early Norian gap in the record of herrerasaurs.”
The findings of the research team were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
