Kotasaurus
KOH-ta-SORE-us
"Kota lizard"
Type species Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis
- Lived
- 200 to 184 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 9 m (30 ft)
- Group
- Sauropods
- Found in
- India
- Named by
- Yadagiri 1988
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical sauropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
190 million years ago
Habitat
Rivers crossed the landscape that became the Kota Formation in India. Barapasaurus lived there too, and fossil tree trunks occur with its bones.
Field notes
About Kotasaurus
What it was like
Kotasaurus was an early sauropod about 9 meters (30 feet) long. It had a long neck and pillar-like legs, but it still kept some features of its smaller ancestors. No skull has been found.
Its world
It lived about 200 to 184 million years ago, in the Early Jurassic, in what is now India. Its bones come from the Kota Formation, where it shared the land with another early sauropod, Barapasaurus.
How it was found
Yadagiri named it in 1988. The type species is Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis. Bones from about a dozen animals have been found at one site.
Field gallery
More views of Kotasaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
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 Kotasaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Kotasaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Bones from more than a dozen animals preserve much of the skeleton below the head.
- Its back vertebrae have a simple structure, and its hip blade is low.
Borrowed from relatives
- Much of the body is known from its own bones; the missing head is restored by comparison with early sauropods such as Barapasaurus.
Still unknown
- The shape of its skull.
- Whether all the bones assigned to it belong to the same kind of dinosaur.
- Its skin covering and color.
Discovery timeline
- 1988Named itYadagiri
- 2001Full descriptionYadagiri
- 2010Same rocksBANDYOPADHYAY et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Kotasaurus
Named it
Named an early sauropod from bones collected in the Kota Formation of India.
A new sauropod Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis from Lower Jurassic Kota Formation of India. Records of the Geological Survey of India 11: 102-127
No link available
Full description
Described bones from many individuals and identified the simple back vertebrae and low hip blade that distinguish Kotasaurus.
The osteology of Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis , a sauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Kota Formation of India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21: 242-252
Read the paper : The osteology of Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis , a sauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Kota Formation of India (opens in a new tab)Same rocks
Compared Barapasaurus with Kotasaurus and questioned whether every bone assigned to Kotasaurus belongs to it.
Osteology of Barapasaurus tagorei (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Early Jurassic of India. Palaeontology 53: 533-569
Read the paper : Osteology of Barapasaurus tagorei (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Early Jurassic of India (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Sauropoda
Sources: Wikidata