The first turiasaurian sauropod of India reported from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) sediments of Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, India

This study presents the dental record of a non-neosauropod eusauropod from the Middle Jurassic rocks of the Jaisalmer Basin, India. An isolated, fragmentary heart-shaped crown of a turiasaur has been recovered from the intraformational conglomerate of the Badabag Member (Bathonian) of the Jaisalmer Formation. The heart-shaped, asymmetrical crowns with a labio-lingually compressed apex and apicobasal shallow grooves in the root are exclusive to the Turiasauria clade. This is the first record of a turiasaur from India as well as from Asia This study extends the geographic distribution of the Turiasauria clade and provides new data about the diversity in the Jurassic sauropod fauna of India. The presence of heart-shaped teeth, from both Laurasia and Gondwanaland, shows a much wider geographic and stratigraphic distribution of the Turiasauria clade. There was a possibility of faunal exchange between the two big landmasses at least during the Jurassic. This study is one more step in bringing out the diversity in the vertebrate assemblage of the Jaisalmer Basin during the Middle Jurassic.