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Kranosaura

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kranosaura
Temporal range: Late Triassic, 228–208.5 Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: Archosauriformes
Clade: Protopyknosia
Genus: Kranosaura
Nesbitt et al., 2021
Species:
K. kuttyi
Binomial name
Kranosaura kuttyi
Nesbitt et al., 2021

Kranosaura is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile from the Late Triassic Upper Maleri Formation of India. It contains a single species, K. kuttyi.

Discovery and naming

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The genus is based on two domes of 9 centimetres (3.5 in) long, discovered by T. S. Kutty in the 1990s and described in 2021 by Nesbitt et al.[1]

Description

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It had an unusually domed head reminiscent of the later pachycephalosaurian dinosaurs in an example of convergent evolution, similar to that of Triopticus.[2] Kranosaura was the sister taxon to Triopticus, with which it forms the clade Protopyknosia.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Nesbitt, S. J.; Stocker, M. R.; Chatterjee, S.; Horner, J. R.; Goodwin, M. B. (2021). "A remarkable group of thick-headed Triassic Period archosauromorphs with a wide, possibly Pangean distribution". Journal of Anatomy. 239 (1): 184–206. doi:10.1111/joa.13414. PMC 8197959. PMID 33660262.
  2. ^ Stocker, M.R.; Nesbitt, S.J.; Criswell, K.E.; Parker, W.G.; Witmer, L.M.; Rowe, T.B.; Ridgely, R.; Brown, M.A. (2016). "A Dome-Headed Stem Archosaur Exemplifies Convergence among Dinosaurs and Their Distant Relatives". Current Biology. 26 (19): 2674–2680. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.066. PMID 27666971.