220-Million-Year-Old Indian Dinosaur Discovered: Maleriraptor Kuttyi

220-Million-Year-Old Indian Dinosaur Discovered: Maleriraptor Kuttyi

When a set of bones was dug up decades ago, few imagined they would change what we know about early dinosaurs. But now, those remains have a name: Maleriraptor kuttyi, a small carnivore that roamed India 220 million years ago.

A rare survivor of a mass extinction

Maleriraptor kuttyi lived during the Norian age of the Triassic period. It belonged to the Herrerasauria group — an early branch of predatory dinosaurs. Scientists have confirmed it survived a mass extinction that wiped out many herbivorous species, including the rhynchosaurs.

This makes it the first confirmed herrerasaur to outlive that catastrophic event in Gondwana. The research appears in the Royal Society Open Science journal.