Deccansaurus
Temporal range: Maastrichtian or Danian,
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Infraorder: Scincomorpha
Clade: Cordyliformes
Genus: †Deccansaurus
Yadav et al, 2023
Species:
†D. paleoindicus
Binomial name
†Deccansaurus paleoindicus
Yadav, Bajpai, Maurya & Čerňanský, 2023

Deccansaurus ("Deccan Traps lizard") is an extinct genus of scincomorphan (potentially a stem-cordyliform) lizard from the latest Cretaceous or earliest Paleocene of India. A single species is known, D. paleoindicus, represented by jaws and some osteoderm fragments from the Intertrappean Beds of the Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh.[1]

The morphology of Deccansaurus suggests that it was a distant relative of modern skinks. In addition, it shares close similarities with members of the clade Cordyliformes (represented in the modern day by Cordylidae and Gerrhosauridae from mainland Africa and Madagascar), which would potentially mark the first occurrence of this group from the Indian subcontinent, which at the time was an island continent that had split from Madagascar several million years prior. An extinct cordyliform, Konkasaurus, is also known from the latest Cretaceous of Madagascar and shares many features with Deccansaurus, indicating close similarities between the faunas of India and Madagascar at the time and their shared ancestries.[1][2][3]

References

  1. 1 2 Yadav, Ravi; Bajpai, Sunil; Maurya, A. S.; Čerňanský, Andrej (2023-10-01). "The first potential cordyliform (Squamata, Scincoidea) from India (uppermost Cretaceous – lowermost Paleocene): An African lizard clade brings possible implications for Indo-Madagascar biogeographic links". Cretaceous Research. 150: 105606. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105606. ISSN 0195-6671.
  2. ↑ "Presence of African reptiles in India confirms that these territories once belonged together". uniba.sk. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  3. ↑ a.s, Petit Press (2023-07-15). "Scientists find fossil lizard from the dinosaur era in India". spectator.sme.sk. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
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