| Deccansaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene, 66–65Ma | |
|---|---|
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| Holotype specimen (IITR/VPL/ INT-K/2022/ST-07) of Deccansaurus paleoindicus. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Scinciformata |
| Clade: | Cordyliformes |
| Genus: | †Deccansaurus Yadav et al, 2023 |
| Species: | †D. paleoindicus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Deccansaurus paleoindicus Yadav et al, 2023 | |
Deccansaurus is an extinct genus of girdled lizard that lived during the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleocene of Intertrappean beds of India. The type species is D. paleoindicus. It is one of the well known animals that survived K-Pg Extinction event that happened 66 mya.
Description[]
Deccansaurus is one of the most complete fossil genus and species of lizard known from India. It was similar and perhaps a close relative of another girdled lizard Konkasaurus from Madagascar. It was also a distinct relative of modern day Cordyliformes from Africa. It is one of the well known animals that survived the K-Pg Extinction event judging by the sedimentary rocks where the fossils were discovered.
Discovery and Naming[]
The Holotype was discovered in Kesavi of District Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, India. In 2023, Yadav and his colleagues had described it as a new genus and species of Scinciformatian lizard, Deccansaurus paleoindicus where the genus name "Deccan" is after the Deccan region where the type locality is located, "saurus" is the greek word for lizard, and the species name "paleo" being the Greek word for old with"indicus" after the country of India.
Classification[]
Deccansaurus is currently classified as a type of Cordyliformes.