Narindasaurus

{{short description|Genus of sauropod dinosaur (fossil)}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = Middle Jurassic,
~{{fossilrange|168|165}}

| image = Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis left pubis.jpg

| image_caption = Left pubis (MNHN MAJ 430)

| display_parents = 2

| parent_authority = Royo-Torres et al., 2020

| taxon = Narindasaurus thevenini

| authority = Royo-Torres et al., 2020

}}

Narindasaurus (meaning "Narinda Bay lizard") is a genus of turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Isalo III Formation of Madagascar. The type species, N. thevenini was formally described by Royo-Torres et al. in 2020.{{Cite journal|author1=Rafael Royo-Torres |author2=Alberto Cobos |author3=Pedro Mocho |author4=Luis Alcalá |year=2020 |title=Origin and evolution of turiasaur dinosaurs set by means of a new 'rosetta' specimen from Spain |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=191 |pages=201–227 |doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa091 |doi-access=free }} The holotype, which consists of one specimen, is currently stored at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and has been since 1906 or 1907.

Discovery and naming

The holotype was discovered in the Isalo III Formation before 1894 by Joseph Thomas Last,{{cite journal | last1 = Lydekker | first1 = R. | year = 1895 | title = On bones of a sauropodous dinosaur from Madagascar | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1448543| journal = Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London | volume = 51 | issue = 1–4| pages = 329–336 | doi = 10.1144/gsl.jgs.1895.051.01-04.25 | bibcode = 1895QJGS...51..329L | s2cid = 128431891 }} and were briefly noted on by Paul Lemoine in 1906.Lemoine P. 1906. Études géologiques dans le nord de Madagascar. In: Herman A, ed. Contributions à l’histoire géologique de l’Océan Indien. Paris: Librairie Scientifique, 1–520. Armand Thevenin (1861-1942) was the first to diagnose Narindasaurus. In 1907, he placed it within the now obsolete species "Bothriospondylus madagascariensis",[https://paleoglot.org/files/Thevenin_07.pdf Thevenin A. 1907. Paléontologie de Madagascar. IV Dinosauriens. Annales de Paléontologie 2: 121–136.] which is now known as Lapparentosaurus.{{cite journal | last1 = Bonaparte | first1 = J.F. | year = 1986 | title = Les dinosaures (Carnosaures, Allosauridés, Sauropodes, Cétosauridés) du Jurassique Moyen de Cerro Cóndor (Chubut, Argentina) | journal = Annales de Paléontologie (Vert.-Invert.) | volume = 72 | issue = 3| pages = 325–386 }} It was briefly mentioned in 1972Besairie H, Collignon M. 1972. Géologie de Madagascar, 1. Les terrains sédimentaires. Annales Géologiques de Madagascar 35: 1–463. and it was reevaluated in 2008 and 2010 as both a distinct taxon and a non-neosauropod eusauropod.Läng E. 2008. Les cétiosaures (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) et les sauropodes du Jurassique moyen: révision systématique, nouvelles découvertes et implications phylogénetiques. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris.Mannion PD. 2010. A revision of the sauropod dinosaur genus ‘Bothriospondylus’ with a redescription of the type material of the Middle Jurassic form ‘B. madagascariensis’. Palaeontology 53: 277–296. It was classified as a turiasaur in 2015.{{Cite journal|last1=Mocho|first1=Pedro|last2=Royo-Torres|first2=Rafael|last3=Malafaia|first3=Elisabete|last4=Escaso|first4=Fernando|last5=Silva|first5=Bruno|last6=Ortega|first6=Francisco|date=2015-06-19|title=Turiasauria-like teeth from the Upper Jurassic of the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal|journal=Historical Biology|volume=28|issue=7|pages=861–880|doi=10.1080/08912963.2015.1049948|bibcode=2016HBio...28..861M |s2cid=129076933|issn=0891-2963|url=https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Turiasauria_like_teeth_from_the_Upper_Jurassic_of_the_Lusitanian_Basin_Portugal/1465025|url-access=subscription}} The species Narindasaurus thevenini was formally named in 2020.

The holotype consists of a partial skeleton composed by a right maxillary or premaxillary tooth (MNHN MAJ 423), an anterior caudal vertebra (MNHN MAJ 424), a posterior caudal vertebra (MNHN MAJ 426), a middle-anterior chevron (MNHN MAJ 425), a right ulna (MNHN MAJ 427), a right tibia (MNHN MAJ 428), a right fibula with a distal chevron attached (MNHN MAJ 429) and a left pubis (MNHN MAJ 430).

References