Bharitalasuchus Tapani

In news- Recently, an international team has thrown light on Bharitalasuchus Tapani, a carnivorous reptile that lived 240 million years ago. 

Key updates-

• In the mid 20th century, researchers from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, carried out extensive studies on rocks of the Yerrapalli Formation in Telangana, uncovering several fossils. 
• By studying some of these specimens stored at the Institute, an international team has now thrown light on this carnivorous reptile.
• A precise identification had not been possible earlier because the family was not known from other examples in India. 

About the Bharitalasuchus Tapani-

• It belongs to a genus and species previously unknown to science. 
• Bharitalasuchus is an extinct genus of erythrosuchid archosauriformes known from the Middle Triassic Yerrapalli Formation of India.
• It contains a single species, Bharitalasuchus tapani, known from a holotype and paratype consisting of tooth-bearing cranial fragments.
• The species is named after paleontologist Tapan Roy Chowdhury in honour of his contribution to Indian vertebrate paleontology and especially his extensive work on the Yerrapalli Formation tetrapod fauna.
• Bharitalasuchus tapani were robust animals with big heads and large teeth, and these probably predated other smaller reptiles. 
• They were approximately the size of an adult male lion and might have been the largest predators in their ecosystems.
• In the Telugu language, Bhari means huge, Tala means head, and Suchus is the name of the Egyptian crocodile-headed deity. 
• The first Erythrosuchidae remains were discovered in South Africa in 1905 and more were found in China and Russia. 

• The South African one is about 245 million years old, while the ones from China and Russia are around 240 million years old. 
• So the Indian one is one of the youngest fossil records we have of an erythrosuchid.