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Balochisaurus, Late CretaceousVitakri Formation, Pakistan · named 2004
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Balochisaurus

Lived
72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Sauropods, Balochisauridae
Found in
Pakistan
Named by
Malkani 2004

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

12 finds

70 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Meandering rivers crossed a floodplain in what is now Pakistan. The Vitakri Formation also preserves Pakisaurus, Marisaurus and Sulaimanisaurus.

Field notes

About Balochisaurus

What it was like

Balochisaurus was named as a titanosaur, a long-necked plant eater, from tail bones.

Its world

It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Pakistan. Its bones come from the Vitakri Formation.

How it was found

Malkani named it in 2004. Its bones are fragmentary, and many scientists doubt that it can be told apart from other titanosaurs of the region.

Field gallery

More views of Balochisaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Balochisaurus in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 3

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations

A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Balochisaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Balochisaurus

Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.

From its own fossils

  • Its first tail vertebra is rounded at both ends, while later ones have a hollow front and rounded back, a joint shape found in titanosaurs.
  • The middle tail vertebrae narrow strongly toward their underside.
  • Later work provisionally adds ribs, a breastbone, arm and hand bones, hips, a sturdy thigh bone and a stocky shin bone, gathered from three nearby sites and treated as one animal.

Borrowed from relatives

  • The long neck and four-legged stance are restored by comparison with titanosaurs such as Isisaurus.

Still unknown

  • Whether all the bones credited to it belong to one kind of dinosaur. Some of the same limb bones have also been assigned to Saraikimasoom or Gspsaurus.
  • Its skull, feet and tail tip are unknown, and so are its full body proportions.
  • Whether it had bony skin plates. A flat bone credited to it as a skin plate in one paper is listed in another as Saraikimasoom's, possibly a skull piece.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2004Named itMalkani
  2. 2010Same rocksSadiq Malkani
  3. 2020Same rocksMalkani
  4. 2021Full descriptionMalkani
  5. 2025Close relativeMalkani

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Balochisaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Balochisauridae

Sources: Wikidata