| Brohisaurus Fossil range: {{{fossil_range}}} | |
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| Scientific classification
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Brohisaurus | |
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B. kirthari | |
Brohisaurus is a genus of titanosauriform sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, based on largely indeterminate fragments of some ribs, vertebrae, and limb bones. It's updated information are available in Malkani (2021). The type and only species, B. kirthari, was described by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2003. The genus name means "Brohi lizard" and refers to the Brohi people who live in the area where it was found. The species name refers to the Kirthar Mountains. The fossils were discovered in the lowest portion of the Kimmeridgian Sembar Formation. The Sembar Shale is marine. These fossils may be related or found from Jurassic -Cretaceous transition. The Jurassic -Cretaceous transition is lacustrine in the northern part of Kirthar foldbelt in Pakistan.[1]
Description[]
Brohisaurus, like all sauropod dinosaurs, would have been a large-bodied, long-necked herbivore. Its femur was only 12 cm across.[1] The 15 to 20 meter long titanosauriform Phuwiangosaurus, by contrast, had a femur 20 cm in diameter.[2]
Classification[]
Brohisaurus was originally described as a titanosaur.[1] Malkani suggested it was similar to the early African titanosaurs Tornieria and "Gigantosaurus" dixeyi, which are respectively now known as Janenschia and Malawisaurus.[3][4] He argued that this provided evidence for a biogeographic link between the Indo-Pakistn subcontinent and Africa. However, the phylogenetic position of Brohisaurus is not clear. None of the proposed traits uniting it to Titanosauria are definitive synapomorphies of that clade.[5] It does appear to possess at least two synapomorphies of the Titanosauriformes: pneumatic cavities in its thoracic ribs and femora with elliptical cross sections.
See also[]
References[]
Malkani, M. Sadiq (2021) Jurassic -Cretaceous and Cretaceous-Paleogene transitions and Mesozoic vertebrates from Pakistan. Open Journal of Geology, 11, 275-318.
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<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedJacobs1993 - ^ Mannion, Philip D.; Upchurch, Paul; Barnes, Rosie N.; Mateus, Octávio (2013). "Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 168: 98–206. doi:. http://docentes.fct.unl.pt/sites/default/files/omateus/files/mannion_et_al_2013_sauropod_lusotitan_portugal.pdf.