A mounted skeleton of Barapasaurus, and its osteology

[Jocelyn Falconnet <j.falconnet@gmail.com>]

Bandyopadhyay S., Gilette D.D., Ray S. & Sengupta D.P. In press. 
Osteolology of Barapasaurus tagorei (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the 
Early Jurassic of India. Palaeontology: 1-37.

The sauropod dinosaur, Barapasaurus tagorei, is known from the Early 
Jurassic Kota Formation (Sinemurian to Pliensbachian) of India. The 
taxon is represented by c. 300 bones that were found associated with 
large fossilized tree trunks and were collected from the interface of 
sandstone and mudstone units covering an area of c. 276 m2. The 
collection includes one partial skeleton; most of the remainder of the 
bones were disarticulated, disassociated and dispersed, but taphonomic 
analysis permits recognition of associated elements comprising several 
individuals. Skeletal anatomy of Barapasaurus includes several teeth, 
vertebrae from the caudal cervicals rearward to the terminal caudals, 
and most elements of the appendicular skeleton. Barapasaurus is 
characterized by spoon-shaped teeth with bulbous bases and grooves on 
the anterolabial and posterolingual sides of the crown, coarse tubercles 
on the carina, acamerate cranial and dorsal vertebrae, lateral laminae 
of the middle and caudal dorsal neural spines composed of 
spinodiapophyseal and spinopostzygapophyseal laminae, neural canal of 
the mid-dorsal vertebrae opens dorsally through a narrow slit into a 
large cavity and sacrum with four co-ossified vertebrae. Phylogenetic 
analysis reveals that Barapasaurus is basal in comparison with 
Vulcanodon and is removed from Eusauropoda.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123325860/abstract
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The description is mostly based on a composite, mounted skeleton in 
exhibition in the Geology Museum of the Indian Statistical Institute 
(ISI), in which all the material described here is housed. The material 
studied here (including the holotype of *Barapasaurus*, a sacrum) is 
considered as conspecific, because there is no indication it includes 
different species [sic]. Also, the diagnosis includes at least one 
autapomorphy [that's better !] (a 'slit-like opening of the neural canal 
of the dorsal vertebrae') in addition to an unique combination of 
characters. The phylogenetic analysis of Bandyopadhyay et al. is based 
on a modified version of the data matrix of Uprchurch, Barrett & Galton 
(2007), resulting in the coding of about 50 percent of the matrix for 
*Barapasaurus* and replaced several of the characters coded by Upchurch 
et al. by question marks - especially those with ratio because of the 
lack of associated remains. Few clades have been recovered in the strict 
consensis of the 47 MPT obtained: Ornithischia, Plateosauridae, 
Anchisauridae, and (Sauropoda + *Blikanasaurus*), which is fully 
resolved. Other relationships are undeterminate here. *Barapasaurus* is 
removed from Eusauropoda (sensu Upchurch et al., 2007), and 
*Barapasaurus* is the sister taxon of (*Vulcanodon* + Eusauropoda sensu 
Upchurch et al., 1997).

It would be interesting to see if the position of *Barapasaurus* change 
(i.e: if it goes back to Eusauropoda) with the inclusion of the recently 
decribed basal sauropod (e.g., *Antetonitrus*, *Tazoudasaurus*) and 
close sauropodomorphs (e.g., *Aardonyx*).