Alwalkeria maleriensis

Alwalkeria is a historically problematic extinct genus of avemetatarsalian known from the Late Triassic Lower Maleri Formation of India. The genus contains a single species, Alwalkeria maleriensis. It was initially described in 1987 under the genus name 'Walkeria', based on a partial skull, several vertebrae, and fragmentary hindlimb bones. As this name is preoccupied, the new genus Alwalkeria was proposed to replace it. Early research interpreted the material belonging to a 'podokesaurid' (coelophysoid) theropod, herrerasaur, or Eoraptor-like basal eusaurischian dinosaur. Subsequent work recognized the chimaeric status of the fossils referred to this species, as they belong to multiple unrelated taxa. Some of the bones may belong to a dinosaur, and the skull is likely from a pseudosuchian. A 2025 study suggested lagerpetid affinities for the femora, though this was deemed unlikely by a subsequent review, which regarded A. maleriensis as a member of Pan-Aves (Avemetatarsalia) of uncertain placement.

Alwalkeria maleriensis

Frederico Lisandro Agnolín · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
AlwalkeriaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At most 9.7 million years on record.

The one occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 237 Mya and 227.3 Mya, which is a dating window rather than a span.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 1 occurrenceLate Triassic — about 1 of 1 occurrenceLate Triassic237–237 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences237–236 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences236–236 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences236–236 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences236–235 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences235–235 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences235–235 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences235–234 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences234–234 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences234–234 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences234–233 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences233–233 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences233–233 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences233–232 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences232–232 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences232–231 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences231–231 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences231–231 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences231–230 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences230–230 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences230–230 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences230–229 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences229–229 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences229–229 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences229–228 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences228–228 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences228–228 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences228–227 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences237.5 Mya226.8 Mya

1 occurrence of Alwalkeria maleriensis on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

1 formation

Maleri — 19.07°N, 79.63°E

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The named rock units Alwalkeria maleriensis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Alwalkeria maleriensis and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Alwalkeria maleriensis and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

No other named taxon is catalogued from that site.

The Paleobiology Database records 1 site for Alwalkeria maleriensis, and this reads all of them.

Entered from

1 reference

Each of the 1 occurrence read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Alwalkeria maleriensis

Credit
Frederico Lisandro Agnolín
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Alwalkeria maleriensis was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAlwalkeria through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Chatterjee 1987)