Loading AI tools
Extinct genus of scincomorphan (potentially a stem-cordyliform) lizard From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
Deccansaurus Temporal range: Maastrichtian or Danian, | |
---|---|
Scientific 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 | |
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]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.