Marisaurus

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Marisaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian
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Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Clade: Sauropoda
Clade: Titanosauria
Clade: Lithostrotia
Family: Saltasauridae
Genus: Marisaurus
Malkani, 2003a vide Malkani, 2006
Species:
M. jeffi
Binomial name
Marisaurus jeffi
Malkani, 2003a vide Malkani, 2006

Marisaurus (meaning "Mari lizard", for the Mari tribe of Pakistan) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod from the Late Cretaceous of Balochistan, western Pakistan. The type species is M. jeffi, described by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2006, and it is based on tail vertebrae, found in the Maastrichtian-age Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation. Much additional material, including a partial skull, many vertebrae, and a few hindlimb bones, was referred to this genus. Marisaurus was assigned to Balochisauridae with Sulaimanisaurus , although the family was used as a synonym of Saltasauridae. [1] [2]

Pakistan federal parliamentary constitutional republic in South Asia

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 212,742,631 people. In area, it is the 33rd-largest country, spanning 881,913 square kilometres. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650-mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China in the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.

A genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series. The Cretaceous is named after the white limestone known as chalk which occurs widely in northern France and is seen in the white cliffs of south-eastern England, and which dates from this time.

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References

  1. Malkani, M.S. (2006). "Biodiversity of saurischian dinosaurs from the Latest Cretaceous Park of Pakistan" (PDF). Journal of Applied and Emerging Sciences. 1 (3): 108–140. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-06-22.
  2. M. Sadiq Malkani;SUN Ge (2016) Fossil biotas from Pakistan with focus on dinosaur distributions and discussion on paleobiogeographic evolution of Indo-Pak Peninsula. Global Geology 19(4): 230-240 http://www.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?filename=DBYD201604005&DBName=cjfdtotal&dbcode=cjfd&v=MDQ4MjdsNGpkNVNYM21yR05IRnJDVVJMMmZaZVp1RmlEbVU3ekxJUy9TYXJHNEg5Zk1xNDlGWVlRTEJIazV6aFI=
Taxon Group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms which have distinguishing characteristics in common

In biology, a taxon is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular ranking, especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established. It is not uncommon, however, for taxonomists to remain at odds over what belongs to a taxon and the criteria used for inclusion. If a taxon is given a formal scientific name, its use is then governed by one of the nomenclature codes specifying which scientific name is correct for a particular grouping.