Scientists from IIT-Roorkee and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) have recently made a significant discovery in Jaisalmer, India. They have found the oldest fossil remains of a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur belonging to the dicraeosaurid family. This discovery suggests that India played a major role in the evolution of dinosaurs.
Report informs via foreign media that the remains are approximately 167 million years old, making them the oldest known fossils of their kind. The dinosaur has been named ‘Tharosaurus indicus,’ after the Thar desert where the fossils were found and its country of origin. This new species was previously unknown to scientists.
The discovery was made possible due to a systematic fossil exploration and excavation program initiated by the GSI in 2018 in the Middle Jurassic rocks of the Jaisalmer region in Rajasthan.
Professor Sunil Bajpai, chair professor of vertebrate paleontology at IIT-Roorkee, along with his colleague Debajit Datta, a national postdoctoral fellow, conducted a detailed study of the fossils for a period of approximately five years. The rocks in which the fossils were discovered are estimated to be around 167 million years old.
This finding is significant not only because it is the oldest dicraeosaurid fossil but also because it is globally the oldest diplodocoid, which includes dicraeosaurids and other closely related sauropods. Previous theories suggested that the oldest dicraeosaurid was from China, dating back to about 166-164 million years old.