Cretaceous theropods from India: A review of specimens described by Huene and Matley (1933)

Abstract

Abstraot:The Lato Cretaceous (Maas~richtian) Lameta Ihrmation of central India has yielded dissociated elements ofavariety ofpredatory dinosaurs, most ofthem comingfrom aquarry named the e~Carnosaur bed. The materials were described hv Huene and Matlev nearly 70 years ago. They recomized nine iheronod species, which theysorted out into the theropod subgroups 4!arnosaiirian and eaCoelurasauria~~, I-iuene and Matley also described a considerable amount of theropod hindlimb bones (e.g., femora, tibiae, metat,arsals, and pedal phalanges) that they oilld not refer to any of these species, hut vaguely interpreted as corresponding to ~~allosaurid~~ or ,~coelurosaurid,~ theropods. We reviewed the available collection of Cretaceous therapods from Bara Simla housed at the Geological Survey of India. Kolkata. avrivlne to the foliowine conclusions: 1) Indosuchus and Indosaurus are abelisaurids, as --recognized by previous authors, hut avsilable information is not enough to judge whether they axi re synonyms; 2)Lmt~oisuchus indicus is a small abclisauroid, related to Noasaurus and Masiahasaurus on the basis or their peculiar cervical vortcbrae: 3: the coiitroversial taxa *Clorn~sosuc~ius-. ~iDruolosauroidesn, ,~Ornithornirnoides*. and also exhihit ahelisauroid characters. and bones of iaree size are tentatively referrod to as corresnondine to h~dosi~chus -or Indosai~~zs, whereas some pedal bones of smaller size may belong to i,aeoisuckus; 5) two kinds of abelisaurid feet arcapparent: ansin which the nhaianpes ofdieit 111 andIVarerobust, and another typein which the iiliaianze-es. .--~.of digit IV are transversely narrow and dorsoventrally deep. This reviow demonstrates that all of the theropod eloments discovered at the ,,Carnosaur bed,) belong to a single theropod clade, tho Abelisauroidev.

New materials of Masiakasaurus knopfleri Sampson, Carrano, and Forster, 2001, and implications for the morphology of the Noasauridae (Theropoda:Ceratosauria)

“…Unfortunately, most noasaurid species are represented by extremely fragmentary remains (e.g., Novas et al, 2004), and as a result several important aspects of the noasaurid skeleton remain poorly known, particularly the skull and forearm. This makes it difficult to resolve many important character states within Ceratosauria.…”

“…However, the new materials described here do allow for increased anatomical resolution of some existing specimens, particularly those from the Lameta Formation of India (Huene and Matley, 1933;Novas et al, 2004).…”

“…A number of other Lameta specimens, not assigned to particular taxa, can also be more specifically identified, including a number of "coelurosaurs" (Table 2; see also Novas et al, 2004). For taxonomic purposes, these can be assigned to Noasauridae indet., but it is very possible that all the materials mentioned above pertain to a single noasaurid taxon.…”

“…noted that the holotypic vertebrae of Laevisuchus share some synapomorphies with those of Masiakasaurus and Noasaurus, and grouped these three taxa into Noasauridae. Numerous additional small theropod specimens are known from the Lameta Formation, but unfortunately it is not possible to determine how many discrete taxa are represented (see discussion in Novas et al, 2004). Huene and Matley (1933) almost certainly overstated the taxonomic diversity of their sample in naming four small theropods: Compsosuchus solus, Laevisuchus indicus, Jubbulpuria tenuis, and Ornithomimoides?…”

The history of dinosaur collecting in central India, 1828–1947

“…He visited Matley's Bara Simla site, and while there collected several theropod specimens and a large osteoderm for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) ( Table 1) (Huene & Matley 1933;Chatterjee 1978;Novas et at 2004). This latter element was initially identified as the tail club of an armoured dinosaur (Huene & Matley 1933;Coombs 1978), but it has recently been reinterpreted as a titanosaur osteoderm (Chatterjee & Rudra 1996;D'Emic et al 2009).…”