The First Macronarian: Ceratocaudia antiqua

Publication Info:

Transcript:

Natarajan, A., Bhosale, S., Rakshit, N., & Dasgupta, S. (2026). A new diminutive Jurassic neosauropod from the Kaladongar Formation (Khadir Uplift) of the Kachchh Basin, western India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2026.2677749

Meet Ceratocaudia antiqua, the newest macronarian sauropod dinosaur from India. At only 23 feet it's far from the biggest sauropod, but it may be old enough to change everything paleontologists know about the sauropod family tree!

Episode 311

Notes:

All of these new dinosaurs don't even count. They're just being named off of like one bone. Okay, here's one with more bones. Macronaria is the group of sauropod dinosaurs that include some of the biggest and most famous dinosaurs that ever existed. Some of the biggest and most famous animals that ever existed. Animals like Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus and all of the Titanosaurs even though they're in their own little group inside Macronaria. It might even be like the group known for being absolute giants, but not all of them are. Meet Ceratocaudia antiqua Even though it's related to absolute titans, it isn't in a couple of ways. First of all, it's it's not in the Titanosaur or Titanosauriform group, but also it's considered diminutive, which is the technical way of saying just a little guy. And at 23 ft, which is pretty good size by today's standards for even a non-Titanosauriform Macronarian, it's not. But its size isn't really the important part. It's known from multiple limb bones, a partial sternum, neck and back vertebrae, and an almost complete tail. And even that's being one-upped by its position in its family tree or at least its age in its family tree. It could potentially be from the pliensbachian, which is the upper lower Jurassic right around here. And I know I'm kind of getting into the weeds on this one, but the Plains Bakken was from 184 to 192 million years ago, meaning that this is at least one of, if not the oldest Macronarians ever discovered in a group that's mostly known for being around at least 10 million years later. As usual, if you want more information, here's the source.