Nambalia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of basal

Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group forms an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...

 sauropodomorph dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

. It lived during the Late Triassic

Late Triassic

The Late Triassic is in the geologic timescale the third and final of three epochs of the Triassic period. The corresponding series is known as the Upper Triassic. In the past it was sometimes called the Keuper, after a German lithostratigraphic group that has a roughly corresponding age...

 period (late Norian

Norian

The Norian is a division of the Triassic geological period. It has the rank of an age or stage . The Norian lasted from 216.5 ± 2.0 to 203.6 ± 1.5 million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian.-Stratigraphic definitions:The Norian was named after the Noric Alps in...

 to earliest Rhaetian

Rhaetian

The Rhaetian is in geochronology the latest age of the Triassic period or in chronostratigraphy the uppermost stage of the Triassic system. It lasted from 203.6 ± 1.5 to 199.6 ± 0.6 million years ago...

) in what is now Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

, central India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is known from the holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 ISI R273, parts 1-3, partially articulated postcrania

Postcrania

Postcrania[p] in zoology and vertebrate paleontology refers to all or part of the skeleton apart from the skull. Frequently, fossil remains, e.g...

l material and from the paratypes ISI R273, parts 4-29, including partial postcrania of at least two individuals of different sizes found closely associated and one of them is nearly the same size as the
holotype. ISI R273 was discovered and collected from the Upper Maleri Formation

Upper Maleri Formation

The Upper Maleri Formation is a sedimentary rock formation found in Andhra Pradesh, India. It is one of the formations of the Pranhita–Godavari Basin. It is of late Norian and possibly earliest Rhaetian ages , and is notable for its fossils of early dinosaurs.-Vertebrate fauna:Angistorhinus sp., cf...

 within the Pranhita–Godavari Basin,
north of Nambal

Nambal

Nambal also known as Nambel, Numbal, Nambal Shareef is a village located on the outskirts of the small town Doberan Kalan in the Kallar Syedan Tehsil of Rawalpindi district of Pakistan....

 village. It was first named by Fernando E. Novas, Martin D. Ezcurra, Sankar Chatterjee

Sankar Chatterjee

Sankar Chatterjee is a paleontologist, and is the Paul W. Horn Professor of Geosciences at Texas Tech University and Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University. He earned his Ph. D. from the University of Calcutta in 1970 and was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian...

 and T. S. Kutty in 2011

2011 in paleontology

-Lobopods:-Arachnids:-Insects:-Newly named jawless vertebrates:-Newly named acanthodian:-Newly named cartilaginous fishes:-Newly named bony fishes:-Newly named lepospondyls:-Newly named temnospondyls:-Newly named lissamphibians:...

 and the type species is Nambalia roychowdhurii. The generic name is derived from the Indian village of Nambal which is close to the type locality. The specific name honors Dr. Roy Chowdhuri, for his research on the Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

 vertebrate faunas of India. A cladistic analysis by Novas et al. found that Nambalia is basal to Efraasia

Efraasia

Efraasia is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It was a herbivore which lived during the middle Norian stage of the Late Triassic, around 210 million years ago, in what is now Germany...

, Plateosauravus

Plateosauravus

Plateosauravus is a basal sauropodomorph of uncertain affinities from the late Triassic of South Africa....

, Ruehleia

Ruehleia

Ruehleia is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur from the Late Triassic period of Germany. The type species is R. bedheimensis, described by Galton in 2001, and is named for the German paleontologist Hugo Ruehle von Lilienstern...

and Plateosauria

Plateosauria

Plateosauria is a clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs which lived during the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. The name Plateosauria was first coined by Gustav Tornier in 1913. The name afterwards fell out of use until the 1980s, when a new generation of paleontologists began using the name...

, but more derived than Thecodontosaurus

Thecodontosaurus

Thecodontosaurus is a genus of herbivorous basal sauropodomorph dinosaur which lived during the late Triassic period ....

, Pantydraco

Pantydraco

Pantydraco was a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic of United Kingdom...

, and Guaibasauridae

Guaibasauridae

Guaibasauridae is a family of primitive saurischian dinosaurs, known from fossil remains of late Triassic period formations in Brazil and Argentina....

. Nambalia was found along with the plateosaurid

Plateosauridae

Plateosauridae is a family of plateosaurian sauropodomorphs. Plateosaurids were early sauropodomorph dinosaurs which existed in Asia, Europe and South America during the Late Triassic period. Although several dinosaurs have been classified as plateosaurids over the years, a 2007 study by Adam M....

 Jaklapallisaurus

Jaklapallisaurus

Jaklapallisaurus is a genus of herbivore plateosaurian sauropodomorph dinosaur. It is a plateosaurid which lived during the Late Triassic period in what is now Andhra Pradesh, central India...

, a guaibasaurid, and two basal dinosauriform

Dinosauriformes

Dinosauriformes is a clade of archosaurian reptiles that include the dinosaurs and their most immediate relatives. All dinosauriformes are distinguished by several features, such as shortened forelimbs, and an at least partially perforated acetabulum, the hole in the hip socket traditionally used...

s.