Barapasaurus

Barapasaurus (bəˌrɑːpəˈsɔːrəs ) is a genus of basal sauropod dinosaur from Jurassic rocks of India. The only species is B. tagorei. Barapasaurus comes from the lower part of the Kota Formation, which is of Early to Middle Jurassic age. It is therefore one of the earliest known sauropods. Barapasaurus is known from approximately 300 bones from at least six individuals, so that the skeleton is almost completely known except for the anterior cervical vertebrae and the skull. This makes Barapasaurus one of the most completely known sauropods from the early Jurassic. All known fossils come from a single locality in the vicinity of the village of Pochampally Pin Code: 442504, bordering Telangana (Pochampally Sironcha Taluka, Gadchiroli District, Vidarbha, Maharastra, in central India). The first bones were discovered in 1958, but most specimens were unearthed in 1960 and 1961. In 1975, the finds were described scientifically by paleontologist Sohan Lal Jain and colleagues. In 2010, a more detailed osteological description was published by Bandyopadhyay and colleagues. The material is archived in the paleontological collection of the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), while a majority of the bones are part of a mount at the Geological Museum of the ISI. The name Barapasaurus ("big-legged lizard") is derived from bara meaning 'big' and pa meaning 'leg' in several Indian languages including Bengali; the Greek word sauros means 'lizard'. This name was used as a nomen nudum since a femur measuring over 1.7 m was unearthed at 1961. The specific name tagorei means 'Tagore's', which honors Bengali poet, writer, painter, and musician Rabindranath Tagore. The first year of fieldwork was carried out in the centenary year of Tagore's birth. Barapasaurus tagorei is known from a large bone bed found in the Lower Kota Formation, containing approximately 300 bones from at least six individuals of various ages. No remains of the skull, other than teeth, have been found.