Indosaurus
"Indian lizard"
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Abelisauridae
- Found in
- India
- Named by
- Huene 1933
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
A dry plain crossed by rivers, with shallow channels and occasional lakes. Other dinosaurs from the Lameta Formation include Rajasaurus, Isisaurus and Jainosaurus.
Field notes
About Indosaurus
What it was like
Indosaurus was an abelisaur, a two-legged hunter with a short, deep head and tiny arms. It is known only from part of a braincase, which was very thick with small bumps above the eyes.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, near the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now India. Its bones come from the Lameta Formation, where it shared the land with the larger abelisaur Rajasaurus and the long-necked Isisaurus and Jainosaurus.
How it was found
Huene named Indosaurus in 1933, from a single find. Because so little of it is known, some scientists think it may belong to Rajasaurus or another abelisaur from India.
Field gallery
More views of Indosaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Indosaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Indosaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A partial braincase with unusually thick bones.
- The skull roof had broad bones and a raised crest behind the eyes.
Borrowed from relatives
- The body is restored using better-known abelisaurs such as Majungasaurus and Carnotaurus, including their small arms and two-legged stance.
Still unknown
- Whether Indosaurus and Indosuchus were different animals.
- The shape of its snout and any horns above its eyes.
- Its skin covering and color.
Discovery timeline
- 1933Named itHuene & Matley
- 2004RedescriptionNovas, Agnolin & Bandyopadhyay
- 2008Family treeCarrano & Sampson
- 2023Fossil sitesKhosla & Lucas
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Indosaurus
Named it
Named Indosaurus from part of a thick-walled braincase in a collection of dinosaur bones from India.
The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the Central Provinces of India. Palaeontologica Indica (New Series), Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 21: 1-74
No link available
Redescription
Reexamined the old bones and identified Indosaurus and Indosuchus as abelisaurids, while leaving open whether they were the same animal.
Cretaceous theropods from India: A review of specimens described by Huene and Matley (1933). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales: 67-103
Read the paper : Cretaceous theropods from India: A review of specimens described by Huene and Matley (1933) (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Placed Indosaurus with Majungasaurus and other Indian abelisaurids in the family tree.
The Phylogeny of Ceratosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6: 183-236
Read the paper : The Phylogeny of Ceratosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda) (opens in a new tab)Fossil sites
Reviewed the dinosaur finds of India, including the thick braincase of Indosaurus and the problems of identifying scattered theropod bones.
Review of the Cretaceous dinosaurs from India and their paleobiogeographic significance. Acta Geologica Polonica: 707-740
Read the paper : Review of the Cretaceous dinosaurs from India and their paleobiogeographic significance (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Abelisauridae
Sources: Wikidata