Dinosaur VaultEvery known dinosaur
Saraikimasoom, Late CretaceousVitakri Formation, Pakistan · named 2014
See more pictures

Saraikimasoom

Lived
72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Group
Sauropods, Gspsauridae
Found in
Pakistan
Named by
Malkani 2014

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

11 finds

70 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Rivers crossed the muddy plains preserved in the Vitakri Formation of Pakistan. Other dinosaurs reported from these rocks include Isisaurus, Pakisaurus and Vitakrisaurus.

Field notes

About Saraikimasoom

What it was like

Saraikimasoom was described as a titanosaur, a long-necked plant eater. It is known from scattered bones.

Its world

It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, near the end of the Cretaceous, in what is now Pakistan. It comes from the Vitakri Formation.

How it was found

Malkani named Saraikimasoom in 2014. Many other paleontologists think the bones are too scrappy to define a genus, so the name is often treated as doubtful.

Field gallery

More views of Saraikimasoom

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Saraikimasoom in its habitat, photo 1

1 of 2

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 Saraikimasoom.

The evidence

The science behind Saraikimasoom

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

From its own fossils

  • Malkani described a snout with upper and lower jaws and narrow teeth as the original specimen of Saraikimasoom.
  • The snout is long, narrow and shallow, with a broadly rounded upper front, a rounded front to the lower jaw with little chin, and teeth that taper gradually.
  • Bones assigned to it include pieces of the backbone, tail and limbs. Several jaw pieces once referred to it were later moved to Nicksaurus, and shoulder and limb bones from one of its sites are now listed under Qaikshaheen.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Missing parts of the body are restored by comparison with titanosaurs such as Isisaurus and Rapetosaurus.

Still unknown

  • Whether Saraikimasoom is a distinct genus.
  • Which scattered bones belong to the same kind of animal as the snout, and what the back of its skull looked like.
  • Its full size and body proportions.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2014Named itMalkani
  2. 2020Full descriptionMalkani
  3. 2021RedescriptionMalkani
  4. 2024RedescriptionMalkani

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Saraikimasoom

Close relatives

Other members of Gspsauridae