Lametasaurus

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Extinct genus of reptiles

title: "Lametasaurus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["dinosaurs", "dinosaur-genera", "maastrichtian-dinosaurs", "dinosaurs-of-india", "taxa-named-by-charles-alfred-matley", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1923", "taxa-with-lost-type-specimens"] description: "Extinct genus of reptiles" topic_path: "geography/india" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lametasaurus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Extinct genus of reptiles ::

| fossil_range = Late Cretaceous, | image = Lametasaurus indicus tibia.jpg | image_caption = Left tibia of L. indicus in 1) anterior, 2) right lateral and 3) left lateral views. | taxon = Lametasaurus | authority = Matley, 1923 | type_species = Lametasaurus indicus | type_species_authority = Matley, 1923

Lametasaurus (; ), is a dubious extinct genus of possibly chimeric dinosaurs known from the Lameta Formation, Jabalpur, India. The type species is L. indicus. The weight estimate of Lametasaurus, on the basis of the robust tibia, is 3600 kg, similar morphology can be seen in the tibia of Pycnonemosaurus, which indicates similar weight estimates.

History of discovery

Between October 1917 and 1919 Charles Alfred Matley excavated fossils near Jabalpur. In 1921 he reported the find in the "Carnosaur Bed" of what he considered to be two megalosaurians, theropod dinosaurs. In 1923/1924 he named one of these as the type species Lametasaurus indicus. The generic name refers to the Lameta Formation, dating from the Maastrichtian, the specific name refers to India. However, Matley no longer identified it as a theropod but as a member of the Stegosauria instead, which concept at the time also included the armoured dinosaurs today assigned to the Ankylosauria; at first Matley had seen it as a stegosaurian in the modern sense and even intended to name it as a species of Omosaurus. In 1933 Matley and Friedrich von Huene described some more remains collected by Barnum Brown, later this was shown to be a large osteoderm.

However, in 1935 Dhirendra Kishore Chakravarti contested the interpretation as an armoured dinosaur. He claimed that the specimen was a chimera including titanosaurid armor, crocodile teeth and theropod hindlimb material. In 1964 Alick Walker chose the scutes as the lectotype, thus removing the teeth and the bones from the type material. The name Lametasaurus now designated the scutes only and was generally considered to represent a member of the Nodosauridae. The pelvis and hindlimb bones have in 2003 been suggested to belong to Rajasaurus, based on shared features in the . In 2008 Matthew Carrano e.a. discarded the possibility the scutes were ankylosaurian, stating they were probably titanosaurian, but noted that a comparison to the osteoderms of Ceratosaurus would help in determining its affinities. If in which case the species were to be found ceratosaurian, it would possibly be a senior synonym of Indosaurus and/or Rajasaurus. Most recently, it has been suggested that some of the osteoderms assigned to Lametasaurus show ankylosaurian synapomorphies, which renders Lametasaurus a chimera regardless of the affinities of the other material.

The type material has been lost, lacking a known inventory number, making it difficult to test the several hypotheses. The taxon is today commonly seen as a nomen dubium.

References

References

  1. Bervoets, Fred. "Lametasaurus Indicus". Dino Data.
  2. Benson, Roger B. J.. (2017-10-22). "Cope's rule and the adaptive landscape of dinosaur body size evolution". Palaeontology.
  3. Carrano, M.T., J.A. Wilson, P. M. Barrett, 2010, "The history of dinosaur collecting in central India since 1828", In: Moody, R.T.J., E. Buffetaut, D. Naish, and D. M. Martill (eds.), ''Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective''. Geological Society, London, Special Publications '''343''': 161–173
  4. Matley, C.A., 1921, [https://archive.org/details/on-the-stratigraphy-fossils-and-geological-relationships-of-the-lameta-beds-of-jubbulpore. "On the stratigraphy, fossils and geological relationships of the Lameta beds of Jubbulpore"], ''Records of the Geological Survey of India'' '''53''': 142–169
  5. The [[type specimen]] consisted of a number of dermal scutes, a [[sacrum]] of at least five [[sacral vertebrae]]({{convert. 61. cm. in in length), a pair of [[Ilium (bone). ilium]](left ilium is {{convert. 96. cm. in in length with the acetabular portion, including the pubic and ischial processes, being about {{convert. 37. cm. in long and {{convert. 18. cm. in wide), a [[tibia]]({{convert. 58. cm. ft cm long with the distal breadth being {{convert. 23.3. cm. in) and teeth.Matley, C.A., 1923, [https://archive.org/details/note-on-an-armoured-dinosaur-from-the-lameta-beds-of-jubbulpore "Note on an armoured dinosaur from the Lameta beds of Jubbulpore"], ''Records of the Geological Survey of India'', '''55''': 105-109
  6. Chakravarti, D. K., 1935, "Is ''Lametasaurus indicus'' an armored dinosaur?", ''American Journal of Science'' '''30'''(5): 138-141
  7. Walker, A., 1964, "Triassic reptiles from the Elgin area: ''Ornithosuchus'' and the origin of carnosaurs", ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B'' '''248''': 53-134
  8. J.A. Wilson, P.C. Sereno, S. Srivastava, D.K. Bhatt, A. Khosla and A. Sahni, 2003, "A new abelisaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of India", ''Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan'' '''31'''(1): 1-42
  9. M.T. Carrano and S.D. Sampson, 2008, "The phylogeny of Ceratosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda)", ''Journal of Systematic Palaeontology'' '''6'''(2): 183-236
  10. Rozadilla, Sebastián. (2021-09-01). "Ornithischian remains from the Chorrillo Formation (Upper Cretaceous), southern Patagonia, Argentina, and their implications on ornithischian paleobiogeography in the Southern Hemisphere". Cretaceous Research.
  11. F.E. Novas, S. Chatterjee, D.K. Rudra and P.M. Datta, 2010, "''Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis'', n. gen. n. sp., a new abelisaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous of India". In: S. Badyopadhyay (ed.), ''New Aspects of Mesozoic Biodiversity''. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 132, pp. 45-62

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dinosaursdinosaur-generamaastrichtian-dinosaursdinosaurs-of-indiataxa-named-by-charles-alfred-matleyfossil-taxa-described-in-1923taxa-with-lost-type-specimens