Villagers in Megha village, about 45 kilometers from Jaisalmer in the Indian state of Rajasthan, uncovered a two-meter-long phytosaur fossil while digging near a lake last week. Geologists verified it as a Jurassic-era specimen, and authorities moved to secure the site.
The excavation, led by Professor V. S. Parihar, dean of the Faculty of Earth System Science at Jai Narain Vyas University in Jodhpur, identified a skeleton alongside an egg. Researchers also found eggshell fragments that offered insights into nesting and reproductive behavior. “The phytosaur resembles a crocodile, and the fossil is 200 million years old,” said Parihar. “The fossil indicates a medium-sized phytosaur that likely lived beside a river and survived by feeding on fish,” said Parihar.
“About 180 million years ago, Jaisalmer was a region where dinosaurs lived during the Jurassic age,” said Dr. Narayan Das Inakhiya. “The recent identification of the fossil as a phytosaur is not surprising, as there was likely a river on one side and a sea on the other in this area,” said Inakhiya. He added that the site could hold “many more hidden fossils” that could provide vital clues on the history of evolution.
The fossils in Megha village came from the Lathi Formation in the Jaisalmer Basin, a unit known for preserving traces of Jurassic life and indicating both freshwater and marine environments. Experts said phytosaurs were extinct reptiles with short legs, armor-like scales, long tails, and long, toothy snouts that predated modern crocodiles by millions of years; the key difference was nostrils on a raised hump in front of the eyes rather than at the ends of the snout. Phytosaurs thrived along rivers and wetlands during the early Jurassic period and primarily fed on fish, having survived the Permian-Triassic extinction and playing a role in prehistoric ecosystems, reported News18.
Local officials and researchers said the hill near Megha village, which stretched about 20 kilometers and connected to the Akal Wood Fossil Park, consisted mainly of Lathi Formation sandstone, marl, ironstone, and limestone from the Jurassic era. Surveys hinted at remains of other Jurassic creatures, possibly including an 8 to 10-foot-long flying herbivorous dinosaur.
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