Ceratocaudia antiqua

Ceratocaudia antiqua was a roughly seven-metre sauropod from the Kaladongar Formation of western India. Although small beside later macronarians, the holotype was an old individual rather than a juvenile: its long-bone tissues record advanced skeletal maturity. The describing analysis placed it near the base of Macronaria, making it one of the earliest diagnosable members of the lineage that later included brachiosaurids and titanosaurs. Its combination of great age and small adult body size raises the possibility of dwarfism, but one individual cannot establish the cause.

Its fossils occur between approximately 185 and 168 million years ago. Values shown here are approximate and reflect the current curated seed dataset.

The holotype IITBR3–IITBR59 includes neck and tail vertebrae, a chevron, an interclavicle, forelimb and hand bones, both femora, lower-leg bones and a metatarsal. Diagnostic features include a notch on a cervical postzygapophysis, a horn-like crest on an anterior caudal neural spine, changing articular geometry along the rear tail, and distinctive shapes on the tibia and fibula. Histology and a non-traumatic bone pathology indicate that the individual was old.

• Horn-like crest on an anterior tail neural spine
• Notched cervical postzygapophysis
• Changing centrum articulation along the rear tail
• Distinctively notched distal tibia
• Old individual documented by long-bone histology
• Early-diverging, non-titanosauriform macronarian

Abhishek Natarajan, Suraj Bhosale, Nibedita Rakshit and Sudipta Dasgupta named Ceratocaudia antiqua on 16 July 2026 from a partial skeleton collected in the Kaladongar Formation of the Khadir Uplift, Kachchh Basin, Gujarat. The genus combines Greek keras, horn, with Latin cauda, tail, for the crest on a tail vertebra. Antiqua means ancient and refers to its unusually early place in macronarian history.

Naming authors: Abhishek Natarajan, Suraj Bhosale, Nibedita Rakshit, Sudipta Dasgupta.

The Kaladongar Formation accumulated in western India during an interval that may span the later Early Jurassic into the early Middle Jurassic. The exact age and palaeoenvironment of the fossil-bearing level remain less tightly constrained than the anatomy of the skeleton, so the map deliberately marks the wider Khadir region rather than a precise excavation point.

The tail crest prompted a tentative biomechanical reconstruction in which the tail could have served as a mild deterrent, but no trace fossil or injury demonstrates how it was used. Four-legged locomotion and herbivory follow from its sauropod anatomy. Solitary or herd behaviour, preferred plants and daily activity are unknown.

• It was announced only one week before this DinoTree update.
• The seven-metre holotype was an old animal, so its small size was not simply juvenile.
• Its name refers to a horn-like bony crest on the tail rather than a horn on the head.
• The authors discuss possible dwarfism but do not claim that it has been proven.

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   A new diminutive Jurassic neosauropod from the Kaladongar Formation (Khadir Uplift) of the Kachchh Basin, western India

   Abhishek Natarajan, Suraj Bhosale, Nibedita Rakshit, Sudipta Dasgupta · Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology · 2026

   Open source