Dinosaur VaultEvery known dinosaur
Vitakrisaurus, Late CretaceousVitakri Formation, Pakistan · named 2010
See more pictures

Vitakrisaurus

"Vitakri lizard"

Lived
72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
Diet
Carnivore
Group
Theropods, Vitakrisauridae
Found in
Pakistan
Named by
Malkani 2010

Where its fossils were found

The evidence

Today

2 finds

70 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

Habitat

A river plain where floods spread red mud across the land, in what is now Pakistan. Marisaurus, Pakisaurus and Balochisaurus are also recorded from the Vitakri Formation.

Field notes

About Vitakrisaurus

What it was like

Vitakrisaurus was named as a meat eater, known from a partial hand, arm bones and tail vertebrae. Its exact place among theropods is uncertain.

The bones were found in the same area, but whether they all belong to one animal remains 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 Vitakrisaurus in 2010.

Field gallery

More views of Vitakrisaurus

Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.

Vitakrisaurus 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 Vitakrisaurus.

The evidence

The science behind Vitakrisaurus

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

From its own fossils

  • The type includes an articulated set of digits with a curved claw, described as a right hand and partly preserved only as impressions in the rock. The middle digit is the longest and strongest, and the first is short and thick with a slightly down-curved claw.
  • Its tail vertebrae are hollow at both ends, pinched in at the middle and have no ridge along their underside.
  • The type also includes pieces of arm bone exposed in cross section.

Borrowed from relatives

  • Comparisons with Vitakridrinda and Rajasaurus suggest it was an abelisauroid, but its head, neck, body and legs are restored only in general terms, by comparison with a well-known meat eater such as Allosaurus.

Still unknown

  • Whether the limb fragment belongs to a hand or a foot.
  • Whether the scattered bones all belong to the same kind of dinosaur.
  • Its complete body shape and its exact place among theropods.

Discovery timeline

  1. 2010Named itMalkani
  2. 2019Full descriptionMalkani
  3. 2020RedescriptionMalkani
  4. 2021RedescriptionMalkani
  5. 2021Full descriptionMalkani
  6. 2025RedescriptionMalkani

Key papers

The research behind what we know of Vitakrisaurus

Close relatives

Other members of Vitakrisauridae

Sources: Wikidata