Kranosaura Explained

Kranosaura is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile from the Late Triassic Upper Maleri Formation of India. It contains a single species, K. kuttyi, described in 2021 by Nesbitt et al.^[1] It had an unusually domed head reminiscent of the later pachycephalosaurian dinosaurs in an example of convergent evolution, similar to that of Triopticus.^[2] Kranosaura was the sister taxon to Triopticus, with which it forms the clade Protopyknosia. The genus is based on two domes of 9cm (04inches) long, discovered by T. S. Kutty in the 1990s.

Notes and References

1. Nesbitt. S. J. . Stocker . M. R. . Chatterjee . S. . Horner . J. R. . Goodwin . M. B. . 2021 . A remarkable group of thick-headed Triassic Period archosauromorphs with a wide, possibly Pangean distribution . . 239 . 1 . 184–206 . 10.1111/joa.13414 . 33660262 . 8197959.
2. M.R. . Stocker . S.J. . Nesbitt . K.E. . Criswell . W.G. . Parker . L.M. . Witmer . T.B. . Rowe . R. . Ridgely . M.A. . Brown . A Dome-Headed Stem Archosaur Exemplifies Convergence among Dinosaurs and Their Distant Relatives . Current Biology . 10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.066 . 2016 . 26 . 19 . 2674–2680 . 27666971. free .