Titanosaurian postcranial remains from the Lameta Formation of a new fossiliferous site in Jabalpur District, Central India

The Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Lameta Formation of central and western India is well known for its rich dinosaurian fossil assemblage, particularly titanosaurian remains. In central India, the Bara Simla, Chota Simla, and Lameta Ghat areas of Jabalpur District and the Pisdura and Dongargaon areas of Chandrapur District have yielded important titanosaurian fossils, including the type specimens of Jainosaurus septentrionalis and Isisaurus colberti. These two genera are descendants of two distinct titanosaur lineages that most likely originated in South America during the mid-Cretaceous. Here, we report a new fossiliferous locality of the Lameta Formation exposed in the Taunri area of Jabalpur District, India. Exploration of this site has yielded several remains of sauropods. The present study describes nine titanosaurian postcranial elements from this assemblage. Among these specimens, the femur referable to Jainosaurus is one of the largest known femora of this taxon reported to date. The study also documents a titanosaurian metatarsal, representing the first record of this element from the Lameta Formation. Furthermore, the co-occurrence of humeri referable to Jainosaurus and Isisaurus at the Taunri locality provides the first substantial evidence for the co-existence of these two titanosaur taxa in the Jabalpur area.