biology

Jainosaurus

Jainosaurus is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jainosaurus rather than just read about it. In short: Jainosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur of India and wider Asia, which lived in the Maastrichtian (approximately 68 million years ago). It is thought to have been about the same size as its contemporary relative Isisaurus, measuring 18 metres (59 ft) long and weighing 15 metric tons (17 short tons).

Key takeaways

Jainosaurus belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jainosaurus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jainosaurus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jainosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur of India and wider Asia, which lived in the Maastrichtian (approximately 68 million years ago). It is thought to have been about the same size as its contemporary relative Isisaurus, measuring 18 metres (59 ft) long and weighing 15 metric tons (17 short tons). The humerus of the type specimen is 134 centimetres long.

History

The type species of Jainosaurus, J. septentrionalis has a long and complex taxonomic history closely connected to the history of the problematic genera Titanosaurus and Antarctosaurus. The first known remains attributable to Jainosaurus, the humerus GSI K22/754, was discovered in 1871 or 1872 by Henry Benedict Medlicott, and the holotype remains were found by Charles Alfred Matley between 1917 and 1920 near Jabalpur in the Lameta Formation. These were named Antarctosaurus septentrionalis by Friedrich von Huene and Matley in 1933.

The specific name of J. septentrionalis means "northern" in Latin, a reference to the fact that the species was discovered on the Northern Hemisphere whereas Antarctosaurus means "saurian from the Southern Hemisphere" because its type species Antarctosaurus wichmannianus was found in Argentina. The generic name honours the Indian paleontologist Sohan Lal Jain, who worked on the cranial nerve impressions in the skull; and in 1982 published a study about the results. Ironically, Jain himself considered the remains synonymous with Titanosaurus in the 1997 description of Isisaurus. However, Wilson and Upchurch (2003) rejected the synonymy of Jainosaurus and Titanosaurus due to the dubious status of the latter.

In 1995 Hunt et al., believing Antarctosaurus to belong to Dicraeosauridae, made the clearly titanosaurian Antarctosaurus septentrionalis the type species of a new genus, Jainosaurus, and determined that the braincase, GSI IM K27/497, should be the lectotype. Jainosaurus was further distinguished from Antarctosaurus by details of the braincase. In 2009, Jeffrey Wilson and others made a detailed reassessment of Jainosaurus septentrionalis and confirmed its validity. The postcrania, which had been assumed lost, were shown to be largely present in the collection of the Geological Survey of India at Calcutta. They include: dorsal rib fragments (GSI K20/326, K27/425); a caudal vertebra (GSI K20/317), four chevrons (GSI K27/492–494, 496), the left and right scapula (only a cast still extant); a sternal plate (GSI K20/647); a humerus (lacking an inventory number), a radius (GSI K27/490) and an ulna (GSI K27/491). In 1996 Sankar Chatterjee referred a second braincase to the species: ISI R162. Some material from Pakistan also possibly belongs to Jainosaurus. Some material collected from Chota Simla region that are housed in Natural History Museum might also belong to this taxon, however the specimen is smaller than the holotype. Wilson e.a. concluded that Jainosaurus is a valid taxon, clearly distinguishable from Isisaurus. It would have been a fairly derived member of the Titanosauria, more closely related to South American forms like Pitekunsaurus, Muyelensaurus and Antarctosaurus than to Isisaurus or Rapetosaurus.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jainosaurus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jainosaurus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jainosaurus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jainosaurus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jainosaurus

In research: Jainosaurus appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jainosaurus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jainosaurus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Dinosaur genera, Dinosaurs of India, Fossil taxa described in 1995, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jainosaurus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jainosaurus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jainosaurus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jainosaurus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jainosaurus in simple terms?

Why does Jainosaurus matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jainosaurus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jainosaurus.