Kotasaurus
| Kotasaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic
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| Genus: | Kotasaurus Yadagiri, 1988
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| Species: | K. yamanpalliensis
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Kotasaurus (Template:PronEng KOHT-ah-SAWR-us) (meaning "Kota [Formation] lizard") is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Early Jurassic period, about 208 million to 188 million years ago. It was an early sauropod, sharing some similarities with prosauropods. Its fossils were found in 1988, in India, near a place called Yemanapalli, in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
It is the most primitive known sauropod, and is similar to prosauropods in some ways (the hip bones). This quadrupedal plant-eater was about 30 feet (9 meters) long. It had a bulky body, a long tail and a long neck. It is known from a partial skeleton found in India (with no skull). [1]
The type species, Kotasaurus yamanpalliensis, was described by P. Yadagiri in 1988.
The Geological Survey of India restored the skeletal remains of this giant skeleton and displayed at Birla Science Museum, Hyderabad.
Environment
Like all sauropods, Barapasaurus was a herbivore. However, no skull has yet been recovered and so its exact diet has not been determined. A few lone teeth are known but not sufficient to make judgments on diet.
Barapasaurus is also important because, although its remains were found in India, it is very similar to other samples found in East Africa. From this we can conclude that during the early Jurassic period, these two land masses were still connected or at least only recently divorced.
References
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