Maleriraptor kuttyi was unearthed in the Upper Maleri Formation near Annaram village, south-central India, with fossilized remains first collected over 40 years ago. Only now, after extensive research by an international team led by the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, has the specimen been formally described and named. The genus name “Maleriraptor” references the Maleri Formation, while “kuttyi” honors the late Indian paleontologist T. S. Kutty, who discovered the holotype.
This new species is a member of Herrerasauria, one of the earliest groups of predatory dinosaurs, previously thought to be restricted to South America. Maleriraptor kuttyi’s identification in India challenges this assumption and fills a crucial gap in the fossil record, linking South American herrerasaurs with their later North American relatives.
Era: Lived during the Norian stage of the Late Triassic period, about 220 million years ago.
Size and Appearance: A small, agile, bipedal predator, standing just over a meter tall and measuring about two meters from snout to tail.
Habitat: Thrived in the dense, coniferous forests of ancient Gondwana, coexisting with early sauropodomorphs and other reptiles.
Diet: Carnivorous, likely preying on small vertebrates and using speed and agility to hunt.
Maleriraptor kuttyi’s existence is especially significant because it survived the mass extinction event that wiped out many herbivorous reptiles, such as the rhynchosaurs, during the early Norian. This resilience suggests that herrerasaurs were more adaptable and widespread than previously believed, enduring ecological upheavals that reshaped prehistoric ecosystems.
Until this discovery, herrerasaurs were only documented in South America, with four main species from Argentina and Brazil. Maleriraptor kuttyi is the first definitive herrerasaur found in India, providing concrete evidence that these early predatory dinosaurs had a much broader distribution across Pangaea. The climatic conditions of ancient India, similar to those of southern North America during the Norian, may have facilitated the survival and spread of these species.
The naming of Maleriraptor kuttyi pays tribute to T. S. Kutty, a pioneering Indian paleontologist, and marks a milestone in Indian paleontology. The discovery, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, not only enriches the global dinosaur family tree but also positions India as a key site for understanding early dinosaur evolution.
