Upper Maleri Formation

{{short description|Geologic formation in India}} {{see also|Lower Maleri Formation}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox rockunit | name = Upper Maleri Formation | image = Upper Maleri Formation dinosaurs (Maleriraptor and Jaklapallisaurus).jpg | caption = Artistic reconstruction of the Upper Maleri Formation paleoenvironment | type = Geological formation | age = Norian<br />~{{fossil range|220|211}} | period = Norian | prilithology = | otherlithology = | namedfor = | namedby = | region = Telangana | country = India | coordinates = {{coord|19.3|N|79.5|E|display=inline,title}} | paleocoordinates = {{coord|33.1|S|36.4|E|display=inline}} | unitof = Gondwana Group | subunits = | underlies = Lower Dharmaram Formation | overlies = Lower Maleri Formation | thickness = | extent = Pranhita–Godavari Basin | area = | map = {{Location map+ | India | relief = 1 | width = 250 | float = center | places = {{Location map~ | India | lat_deg = 19.2 | lon_deg = 79.6 | mark = Pink ff0080 pog.svg | marksize = 12 }} }} }}

The '''Upper Maleri Formation''' is a sedimentary rock formation found in Telangana, India. It is one of the formations of the Pranhita–Godavari Basin. It is of late Norian and possibly earliest Rhaetian ages (Late Triassic), and is notable for its fossils of early dinosaurs.

== Fossil content ==

=== Dinosauriforms === {| class="wikitable" align="center" |- ! colspan="7" align="center" | Dinosauriforms of the Upper Maleri Formation |- !Genus !Species !Location !Stratigraphic position !Material !Notes !Image |- | Guaibasauridae Indet.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Novas |first1=Fernando E. |last2=Ezcurra |first2=Martin D. |last3=Chatterjee |first3=Sankar |last4=Kutty |first4=T. S. |date=2011 |title=New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of Central India |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231824148 |journal=Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh |language=en |volume=101 |issue=3–4 |pages=333–349 |doi=10.1017/S1755691011020093 |s2cid=128620874 |issn=1755-6910}}</ref> | Indeterminate | | | | A guaibasaurid sauropoomorph | |- | ''Jaklapallisaurus<ref name=":0" />'' | ''J. assymetrica'' | Telangana | | ISI R274, postcranial material<ref name=":0" /> | An unaysaurid sauropodomorph; also found in the Lower Dharmaram Formation | |- | ''Nambalia''<ref name=":0" /> | ''N. roychowdhurii '' | Telangana | | ISI R273, including partial postcrania of at least three individuals of different sizes found closely associated<ref name=":0" /> | A basal bagualosaurian sauropodomorph | |- | ''Maleriraptor''<ref name="Maleriraptor">{{Cite journal |last1=Ezcurra |first1=Martín D. |last2=Garcia |first2=Maurício Silva |last3=Novas |first3=Fernando E. |last4=Müller |first4=Rodrigo Temp |last5=Agnolín |first5=Federico L. |last6=Chatterjee |first6=Sankar |date=2025-05-07 |title=A new herrerasaurian dinosaur from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri Formation of south-central India |journal=Royal Society Open Science |language=en |volume=12 |issue=5 |doi=10.1098/rsos.250081 |issn=2054-5703 |doi-access=free|pmc=12077243 }}</ref> | ''M. kuttyi'' | Pranhita-Godavari Valley | | ISIR 282, partial sacral ribs, vertebrae, and pelvic girdle<ref name="Maleriraptor" /> | A herrerasaurian saurischian | frameless |- |}

=== Other amniotes === {| class="wikitable" align="center" |- ! colspan="7" align="center" | Non-dinosaur Amniotes of the Upper Maleri Formation |- !Genus !Species !Location !Stratigraphic position !Material !Notes !Image |- | Despatosuchini Indet.<ref name="Nesbitt2021" /> | Indeterminate | | | | A desmatosuchin desmatosuchine | |- | ''Kranosaura''<ref name="Nesbitt2021">{{Cite journal |last1=Nesbitt |first1=S. J. |last2=Stocker |first2=M. R. |last3=Chatterjee |first3=S. |last4=Horner |first4=J. R. |last5=Goodwin |first5=M. B. |year=2021 |title=A remarkable group of thick-headed Triassic Period archosauromorphs with a wide, possibly Pangean distribution |journal=Journal of Anatomy |volume=239 |issue=1 |pages=184–206 |doi=10.1111/joa.13414 |pmc=8197959 |pmid=33660262}}</ref> | ''K. kuttyi'' | | | ISIR 269, a partial skull | A dome-headed protopyknosian archosauriform; closely related to ''Triopticus primus'' from the Colorado City Formation of Texas | |- | Leptosuchomorpha Indet.<ref name="Nesbitt2021" /> | Indeterminate | | | | A leptosuchomorph mystriosuchine; closely related to ''Leptosuchus studeri''. | |- | Mystriosuchinae Indet.<ref name="Nesbitt2021" /> | Indeterminate | | | | A mystriosuchine parasuchid; closey related to ''Angistorhinus grandis'' | |- | Paratypothoracini Indet.<ref name="Nesbitt2021" /> | Indeterminate | | | | A paraypothoracini typothoracine | |- | Placeriinae Indet.<ref name="Nesbitt2021" /> | Indeterminate | | | | A placeriine stahleckeriid | |- | Stahleckeriinae Indet.<ref name="Nesbitt2021" /> | Indeterminate | | | | A stahleckeriine stahleckeriid | |- |}

=== Temnospondyls === {| class="wikitable" align="center" |- ! colspan="7" align="center" | Temnospondyls of the Upper Maleri Formation |- !Genus !Species !Location !Stratigraphic position !Material !Notes !Image |- | ''Compsocerops''<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Sengupta |first=Dhurjati P. |date=1995 |title=Chigutisaurid temnospondyls from the Late Triassic of India and a review of the Family Chigutisauridae |url=https://www.palass.org/sites/default/files/media/publications/palaeontology/volume_38/vol38_part2_pp313-339.pdf |journal=Palaeontology |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=313–339}}</ref> | ''C. cosgriffi''<ref name=":1" /> | | | | A chigutisaurid temnospondyl; also found in the Santa Maria Formation<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Teschner |first1=Elżbieta M. |last2=Chakravorti |first2=Sanjukta |last3=Sengupta |first3=Dhurjati P. |last4=Konietzko-Meier |first4=Dorota |date=2020-09-08 |title=Climatic influence on the growth pattern of Panthasaurus maleriensis from the Late Triassic of India deduced from paleohistology |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=8 |article-number=e9868 |doi=10.7717/peerj.9868 |issn=2167-8359 |pmc=7485487 |pmid=33194360 |doi-access=free }}</ref> | |- | ''Kuttycephalus''<ref name=":1" /> | ''K. triangularis''<ref name=":1" /> | | | | A chigutisaurid temnospondyl<ref name=":2" /> | |- |}

=== Fish === {| class="wikitable" align="center" |- ! colspan="7" align="center" | Fishes of the Upper Maleri Formation |- !Genus !Species !Location !Stratigraphic position !Material !Notes !Image |- | ''Ferganoceratodus'' | ''F. hislopianus'' | | | | A ceratodontiform lungfish | |- |}

== Correlations == The formation has been correlated with the Forest Sandstone of Africa, the lower Caturrita Formation of the Paraná Basin in Brazil, the upper Ischigualasto Formation and lower Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of Argentina, and the Chinle Formation of North America.<ref name=":0" />

== References == {{Reflist}} == Further reading == * {{cite book |editor-last=Weishampel |editor-first=David B. |editor-last2=Dodson |editor-first2=Peter |editor-last3=Osmólska |editor-first3=Halszka |year=2004 |title=The Dinosauria|edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZFDb_iw40C |location=Berkeley|publisher= University of California Press |pages=1–880 |access-date=2019-02-21|isbn=0-520-24209-2}}

Category:Geologic formations of India Category:Triassic System of Asia Category:Triassic India Category:Norian Stage Category:Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of Asia Category:Paleontology in India