Rajasaurus

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Rajasaurus
Fossil range: Late Cretaceous

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Family:	Abelisauridae
Subfamily:	Carnotaurinae
Genus:	Rajasaurus

Binomial name

Rajasaurus narmadensis
Wilson et al., 2003

Rajasaurus was a stocky carnivorous dinosaur with an unusual head crest, first described by Chicago paleontologists Paul Sereno and Jeff Wilson and Geological Survey of India palaeontologist Suresh Srivastava in 2003. Fossilized bones of this species were first discovered by Suresh Srivastava of GSI during 1982-1984 from Rahioli, Kheda district, Gujarat, India. Bones had also been identified from Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh in Central India in 1983 by a joint Indo-American group, including members from the University of Michigan, University of Chicago of the US, and the Panjab University of India, working in India's Narmada valley. The disparity between the fossil sites indicates that the habitat of Rajasaurus extended along Narmada river up to Gujarat.

Rajasaurus was a carnotaurine abelisaur, closely related to other thick-skulled carnivores like the African Majungatholus and the South American Carnotaurus. The type specimen of this "princely lizard", which measures 9 meters (30 ft) in length and about 3 meters (10 ft) in height, is housed in the repository unit of GSI at Kolkata. The fossil collection consists of huge limb bones, vertebrae, pelvic bones, brain case, post cranial skeleton, parts of lower and upper jaws, teeth and tail. The discovery represents the first skull ever assembled of a dinosaur of any kind in India. Remains indicate that the skull was adorned with a small, double-crested horn. While the skull is incomplete, the pieces found include the jaws and braincase.

The name Rajasaurus narmadensis means "regal lizard from the Narmada." The period of its existence was during the movement of the isolated tectonic plate that formed the Indian subcontinent, before its collision with the Asian land mass, which formed the Himalayas. It also coincides with the end of the dinosaur era.