Ceratocaudia antiqua was a kind of neosauropod, the group that ultimately produced gigantic dinosaurs such as Diplodocus Brachiosaurus and Argentinosaurus

Unlike those titans, the brand-new types appears to have actually determined just about 7 m (23 feet) long.

“Neosauropoda are among the most effective groups of saurischian dinosaurs that achieved high variety from the Late Jurassic onwards up until completion Cretaceous,” stated Dr. Abhishek Natarajan from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and associates.

“However, the early history of the neosauropodan family trees (Diplodocoidea and Macronaria), along with subscription of their basally diverging taxa, has actually been questionable, due to numerous elements, viz. absence of ideal outcrops, bad restraints on the ages of Lower-Middle Jurassic deposits, low rates of tasting, and partial and fragmentary conservation.”

“Recent advances in the research study of neosauropods have actually concentrated on taking on these concerns, providing proof that both diplodocoids and macronarians had a big geographical circulation, and an abundant variety throughout the Middle Jurassic, showing an international circulation of neosauropods by the early Middle Jurassic.”

The partial skeleton of Ceratocaudia antiqua was recuperated from the Kaladongar Formation of the Kachchh Basin in western India.

An overall of 181 pieces from the excavation website, consisting of vertebrae, ribs, forelimb bones and hind-limb aspects, all thought to come from one person.

The rock layers consisting of the fossils are tough to date specifically, covering a variety from the Pliensbachian phase of the Early Jurassic to the Bajocian phase of the Middle Jurassic, suggesting Ceratocaudia antiqua might be as much as 190 million years of ages.

“The fossils are housed at the Vertebrate Palaeontology Lab, Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India,” the paleontologists stated.

Utilizing digital restoration methods, the scientists designed Ceratocaudia antiqua‘s tail musculature based upon contrasts with modern-day crocodilians and lizards.

Their design recommends this types held its tail horizontally and might swing it powerfully from side to side, a motion they hypothesize might have worked as a modest defense versus predators.

“The theoretical design of Ceratocaudia antiqua recommends that the sauropod tail might have worked as a moderate deterrent to predators even without specialized adjustments like the whip-tail of flagellicaudatans,” they stated.

The group’s phylogenetic analysis locations Ceratocaudia antiqua as an early-branching macronarian, making it among the earliest diagnosable members of Neosauropoda discovered throughout the world.

Together with 2 Chinese types, Dashanpusaurus dongi and Yuzhoulong qurenensisit recommends that neosauropods had actually currently attained an international circulation before the Bajocian phase of the Jurassic.

“The Kachchh sauropod represents among the earliest neosauropods and contributes to the sporadic worldwide record of Early/Middle Jurassic neosauropods,” the scientists concluded.

Their paper was released this month in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

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Abhishek Natarajan et alA brand-new small Jurassic neosauropod from the Kaladongar Formation (Khadir Uplift) of the Kachchh Basin, western India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontologyreleased online July 16, 2026; doi: 10.1080/ 02724634.2026.2677749