Pronunciation: bah-LOO-chi-SOR-us
Meaning: Baloch lizard
Author/s: Malkani (2006)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Balochistan, western Pakistan
Discovery Chart Position: #584
Balochisaurus malkani
Until 2006, dinosaurs were a bit thin on the ground in Pakistan then M. Sadiq Malkani, having announced the discovery of some 3000 fossils, managed to name five all at the same time; Balochisaurus, Khetranisaurus, Marisaurus, Pakisaurus and Sulmainisaurus. Under normal circumstances this would be glorious news, but the paper in which they were officially announced is, well, a little hard going and rife with poor grammar, factual discrepancies and over-generous nomenclature, at least some of which we suspect would have been called into question had Malkani submitted said document for peer review.
All five dinosaurs are titanosaurs, all of them are from the same area and the same age, all are based on fragmentary tail vertebrae, and all are listed as being named in a 2004 paper that was never actually published. However, Balochisaurus malkani was officially named in 2006|1| and stands out because Malkani named it after himself. That, and it was installed as name-bearer of its own family — Balochisauridae — which appears to be a raised-for-the-occasion Pakistan-exclusive replacement name for the perfectly stable Saltasauridae which has been used by sauropod experts for many years.
In 2009 Malkani published a new paper announcing remains from the Bor, Basti Nala, Grut Gambrak, Kinwa, Kinwa southwest, Kinwa mid (north), Kinwa mid (south), Kinwa north, Mari Bohri, and Rahi Wali Gambrak localities, some of which were referred to Khetranisaurus, Marisaurus, Pakisaurus and Sulmainisaurus. But the lions share "might be associated with some or all materials of Balochisaurus" (whatever that means), according to Malkani himself, though we bailed out after the first six dozen referred fragments and were a little perplexed as to why, all of a sudden, the Vitakri member of the Pab Formation was being referred to as the Vidakri Formation. If you get a buzz out of crying in frustration you should go and read it.
All five dinosaurs are titanosaurs, all of them are from the same area and the same age, all are based on fragmentary tail vertebrae, and all are listed as being named in a 2004 paper that was never actually published. However, Balochisaurus malkani was officially named in 2006|1| and stands out because Malkani named it after himself. That, and it was installed as name-bearer of its own family — Balochisauridae — which appears to be a raised-for-the-occasion Pakistan-exclusive replacement name for the perfectly stable Saltasauridae which has been used by sauropod experts for many years.
In 2009 Malkani published a new paper announcing remains from the Bor, Basti Nala, Grut Gambrak, Kinwa, Kinwa southwest, Kinwa mid (north), Kinwa mid (south), Kinwa north, Mari Bohri, and Rahi Wali Gambrak localities, some of which were referred to Khetranisaurus, Marisaurus, Pakisaurus and Sulmainisaurus. But the lions share "might be associated with some or all materials of Balochisaurus" (whatever that means), according to Malkani himself, though we bailed out after the first six dozen referred fragments and were a little perplexed as to why, all of a sudden, the Vitakri member of the Pab Formation was being referred to as the Vidakri Formation. If you get a buzz out of crying in frustration you should go and read it.
(Malkani's Baloch lizard)
Etymology
Balochisaurus is derived from "Baloch" (for the Baloch tribes of Pakistan) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet (or specific name), malkani, honors M. S. Malkani.
Discovery
The first remains of Balochisaurus were discovered at the Mari Bohri Locality (DL-15) in the Vitakri member of the Pab
Formation, Barkhan District, Balochistan Province, Pakistan, by a team of palaeontologists from the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) in 2001. The holotype (MSM-43-15 to MSM-48-15, housed in the Museum of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, Quetta) is seven tail vertebrae that "seem to be associated". More vertebrae, some limb material, a partial skull and a thick armour plate were referred here in 2006, followed by dozens of fragments from ten localities across the Pab Formation, though, by this point, it was being referred to as the Vitakri Formation. A partial snout (MSM-142-4 ) that was referred to Balochisaurus by Malkani in 2006 was renamed Saraikimasoom vitakri... by Malkani in 2014, and assigned to yet another Pakistan-exclusive titanosaur family: Gspsauridae, and sub-family: Saraikimasoominae.
