Malerisaurus
Name:
Malerisaurus
(Maleri lizard - After the Maleri Formation where the holotype
was discovered).
Phonetic: Ma-le-re-sore-us.
Named By: Sankar Chatterjee - 1980.
Classification: Chordata, Sauropsida,
Archosauromorpha, Protorosauria.
Species: M. robinsonae
(type).
Diet: Insectivore?
Size: About 1.2 meters in length.
Known locations: India, Andrha Pradesh - Lower
Maleri Formation.
Time period: Carnian/Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Almost complete and
articulated skeletons of two individuals.
Malerisaurus
is a genus of protorosauri known to have lived in India during the late
Triassic period. There are a lot of questions about how members of
this genus lived since there are no clear adaptations pointing towards
one ecological niche over another. The discovery of the two
Malerisaurus specimens however have been identified
as the probable
stomach contents of two Parasuchus,
a genus of Phytosaur.
A
second named species of Malerisaurus called M.
langstoni and
recovered from the Colorado City Formation of Texas, USA, is now
regarded as a synonym to Trilophosaurus
(Spielmann et al, 2006).
Further reading
- Malerisaurus, A New Eosuchian Reptile from
the Late Triassic of
India. - hilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London,
Series B 291:163-200 - Sanker Chatterjee - 1980.
- Malerisaurus langstoni, a new diapsid reptile
from the Triassic
of Texas - Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 6 (4):
297–312 - Sankar Chatterjee - 1986.
- Revision of the archosauromorph reptile Trilophosaurus,
with a
description of the first skull of Trilophosaurus jacobsi,
from the
Upper Triassic Chinle Group, West Texas, USA. - Palaeontology
49(3):621-640 - A. B. Heckert, S. G. Lucas, L.
F. Rinehart, J. A. Spielmann, A. P. Hunt & R.
Kahle - 2006.
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