Lucknow-based scientist part of team that discovered dinosaur fossil of new species in Jaisalmer

A team of scientists from IIT Roorkee and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) have discovered dinosaur fossil remains of a plant-eating species. The remains of this long-necked Dicraeosaurid dinosaur, which have been found to be 167 million years old, were collected from Rajasthan's Jaisalmer in 2018.

The study on these fossil remains has found a place in the 'Scientific Reports', which is a prestigious international journal. Furthermore, the study also revealed that the discovered fossils belong to a new dinosaur species, thus far unknown to scientists worldwide.

The 12-member team of scientists that discovered the fossil also includes Lucknow-based Sunil Bajpai, who formerly served as Director of Lucknow's Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP). Currently, Professor Bajpai serves as the Chair Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at IIT Roorkee.

Professor Bajpai played thoroughly studied the discovered remains for five years, along with his colleague and IITian Debajit Datta, who is a national post-doctoral fellow. Commenting further, the two researchers said that the Jaisalmer Dicraeosaurid fossil remains are considerably older than those found in China.

According to Professor Bajpai, this newly discovered Indian dinosaur species belongs from a long lineage of dinosaurs that originated within India. As for the nomenclature, this new dinosaur has been named 'Tharosaurus Indicus'.

The name is an amalgamation of the desert the fossils were found in, i.e. 'Thar' and 'India'. The discovery and research on these fossils has also put a stamp on the prevalent theory that India's first-ever Dicraeosaurid Dinosaurs existed in Jaisalmer.