| Kashmirosaurus Temporal range: Late Carboniferous to Early Permian | |
|---|---|
| |
| Kashmirosaurus ornatus holotype GSI 8672. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapoda |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Family: | †Archegosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Melosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Kashmirosaurus Werneburg and Schneider, 1996 |
| Species: | †K. ornatus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kashmirosaurus ornatus (Woodward, 1905) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Kashmirosaurus is an extinct genus of melosaurine temnospondyl amphibian that lived during Late Carboniferous to Early Permian of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The type species is K. ornatus. It was originally classified as a species of Archegosaurus, A. ornatus, with an additional species A. kashmiriensis, which is considered dubious and synonyms with K. ornatus
Description[]
Kashmirosaurus is one of the only few known animals from Indian subcontinent that is known from Carboniferous and as well as Permian period. It is known from a partial skull roof that is currently housed in Geological Survey of India museum.
Discovery[]
The holotype of Kashmirosaurus, GSI 8672 was discovered in Vihi and Risin Members, which date back to Early Permian and Late Carboniferous. It was originally named by Woodward as a species of Archegosaurus, A. ornatus in the year 1905. Another species assigned to Archegosaurus from same is A. kashmiriensis, named by Tewari in the year 1960. In 1996, Werneburg and Schneider noticed the difference between the Archegosaurus and GSI 8672 and therefore assigned it to a new genus Kashmirosaurus, where the genus name is after Kashmir and saurus is the greek word for lizard, they also clarifiedA. kashmiriensis as dubious and possible synonyms of K. ornatus.
Classification[]
Kashmirosaurus is currently classified as a Melosaurinae with Collidosuchus tchudinovi being its sister taxa.