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Ikqaumishan, Late CretaceousVitakri Formation, Pakistan · named 2023
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Ikqaumishan

Type species Ikqaumishan smqureshi

Lived
72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Sauropods, Gspsauridae
Found in
Pakistan and India
Named by
Malkani 2023

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

3 finds

70 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

The Vitakri Formation records winding rivers and muddy floodplains in what is now Pakistan. Other dinosaurs reported from these rocks include Pakisaurus, Imrankhanhero and Isisaurus.

Field notes

About Ikqaumishan

What it was like

Ikqaumishan was named as a titanosaur, a long-necked, four-legged plant eater. It is known from a few scattered bones.

Whether it is a distinct genus, and which scattered bones belong to it, remain uncertain.

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 Ikqaumishan in 2023.

Field gallery

More views of Ikqaumishan

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Ikqaumishan 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 Ikqaumishan.

The evidence

The science behind Ikqaumishan

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

From its own fossils

  • Ikqaumishan was named from the upper and middle portions of a right upper arm bone, preserved as pieces that fit together.
  • The arm bone has a slender, almost straight muscle crest set toward the inner side, and an expanded inner edge near the shoulder.
  • Tail vertebrae and other bones from nearby sites have been assigned to it, but they were not found joined to the arm bone.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Its missing head is restored from titanosaurs with known skulls such as Tapuiasaurus.
  • Its neck, body, legs and tail follow better-known titanosaurs such as Mnyamawamtuka.

Still unknown

  • Whether Ikqaumishan is a distinct genus, and which scattered bones belong to it. Some arm bones first assigned to it were later moved to another titanosaur.
  • What the back of the arm bone looked like in life. The naming study suggested its thin ridges may come from crushing, while a later study treats two ridges there as a distinguishing feature.
  • The shape of its skull, the length of its neck, and whether a small armor plate found near the arm bone's site belongs to it.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2023Named itMalkani
  2. 2024New findMalkani
  3. 2025RedescriptionMalkani

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Ikqaumishan

Close relatives

Other members of Gspsauridae