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Sulaimanisaurus, Late CretaceousVitakri Formation, Pakistan · named 2004
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Sulaimanisaurus

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

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

6 finds

70 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

Meandering rivers and muddy floodplains covered this part of what is now Pakistan. Pakisaurus, Balochisaurus and Vitakrisaurus are also reported from the Vitakri Formation.

Field notes

About Sulaimanisaurus

What it was like

Sulaimanisaurus 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 Sulaimanisaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Sulaimanisaurus in its habitat, photo 1

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 Sulaimanisaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Sulaimanisaurus

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

From its own fossils

  • The type specimen is a series of seven tail vertebrae from one site in the Vitakri Formation.
  • The main bodies of these tail vertebrae are roughly square when viewed from the end, with little narrowing underneath.
  • Malkani later referred further vertebrae and leg and arm bones from other sites to Sulaimanisaurus. One upper arm bone was assigned only tentatively, and he described features of the referred arm bones as like those of Isisaurus.

Borrowed from relatives

  • The missing head is restored by comparison with titanosaurs whose skulls are known, such as Sarmientosaurus and Tapuiasaurus.

Still unknown

  • Whether it is a separate animal. Malkani himself once placed its tail vertebrae in Isisaurus, then treated Sulaimanisaurus as its own genus again a year later.
  • Whether the bones referred from other sites belong to this genus.
  • Its head shape, skin and color.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2004Named itMalkani
  2. 2020Family treeMalkani
  3. 2021Full descriptionMalkani
  4. 2022RedescriptionMalkani

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Sulaimanisaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Pakisauridae

Sources: Wikidata