Narindasaurus
Narindasaurus is a genus of turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Isalo III Formation of Madagascar. The type and only species is Narindasaurus thevenini. The only known specimen of the genus was first described in 1907, but it was not formally named as a distinct species until 2020.Discovery and naming
Sauropod specimens were collected from various sites in Madagascar for the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris between 1896 and 1905. They were briefly noted on by Paul Lemoine in 1906. In 1907, Armand Thevenin described the specimen that would later become the holotype of Narindasaurus thevenini as belonging to the species Bothriospondylus madagascariensis. It was briefly mentioned in 1972. In 1986, José Bonaparte considered the specimens described by Thevenin to belong to the species Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis. It was reevaluated in 2008 and 2010 as both a distinct taxon and a non-neosauropod eusauropod. Its teeth were noted as being characteristic of turiasaurs in 2015. The genus and species Narindasaurus thevenini were named in 2020 by Rafael Royo-Torres and colleagues, and it was demonstrated to be a turiasaur by phylogenetic analysis. The genus name refers to Narinda Bay, which is near the type locality of the species, and the species name honors Thevenin.Fossil record
The holotype and only known specimen of Narindasaurus thevenini is a partial skeleton recovered from the Isalo III Formation of Madagascar. The specimen, which is housed at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, is composed of a right maxillary or premaxillary tooth, an anterior caudal vertebra, a posterior caudal vertebra, a middle-anterior chevron, a right ulna, a right tibia, a right fibula with a distal chevron attached and a left pubis.Description
The teeth show the heart-shaped morphology typical of turiasaurs. The caudal vertebrae from the middle-anterior region of the tail show an asymmetric lateral fossa that is placed in a posterior position, uniquely to the genus.