|
Lessemsaurus
''Lessemsaurus'' is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur belonging to Lessemsauridae. Naming and description The type species, ''L. sauropoides'', was formally described by José Fernando Bonaparte in 1999 in honor of Don Lessem, a writer of popular science books. It was found in the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in La Rioja Province, Argentina.Weishampel, David B; ''et al.'', 2004. "Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, South America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 527–528. . This dinosaur was around long and was discovered in strata dating to the Norian stage, around 210 million years ago. It is estimated to have reached in maximum body mass. Classification A cladogram after Pol, Garrido & Cerda, 2011, illustrates a possible placing of ''Lessemsaurus'' and ''Antetonitrus'' in Sauropodomorpha: In 2018, Apaldetti ''et al.'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lessemsaurus Mount
''Lessemsaurus'' is an extinct genus of sauropod dinosaur belonging to Lessemsauridae. Naming and description The type species, ''L. sauropoides'', was formally described by José Fernando Bonaparte in 1999 in honor of Don Lessem, a writer of popular science books. It was found in the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin in La Rioja Province, Argentina.Weishampel, David B; ''et al.'', 2004. "Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, South America)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 527–528. . This dinosaur was around long and was discovered in strata dating to the Norian stage, around 210 million years ago. It is estimated to have reached in maximum body mass. Classification A cladogram after Pol, Garrido & Cerda, 2011, illustrates a possible placing of ''Lessemsaurus'' and '' Antetonitrus'' in Sauropodomorpha: In 2018, Apaldetti ''et al. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antetonitrus
''Antetonitrus'' is a genus of sauropod dinosaur found in the Early Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa. The only species is ''Antetonitrus ingenipes''. As one of the oldest known sauropods, it is crucial for the understanding of the origin and early evolution of this group. It was a quadrupedal herbivore, like all of its later relatives, but shows primitive adaptations to use the forelimbs for grasping, instead of purely for weight support. Discovery and naming Adam Yates (paleontologist), Adam Yates, an Australian expert on early sauropodomorphs, named ''Antetonitrus'' in a 2003 report co-authored by South African James Kitching. The name is derived from the Latin ''ante-'' ("before") and ''tonitrus'' ("thunder"), which refers to its existence, before other known sauropods, specifically ''Brontosaurus'' ("thunder lizard"). The one known species of ''Antetonitrus'' is called ''A. ingenipes'', from the Latin ''ingens'' ("massive") and ''pes'' ("foot"), because it shows the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lessemsauridae
Lessemsauridae is a clade of early sauropodiform dinosaurs that lived in the Triassic and Jurassic of Argentina, South Africa and possibly Lesotho. A phylogenetic analysis performed by Apaldetti and colleagues in 2018 recovered a new clade of sauropodiforms uniting ''Lessemsaurus'', ''Antetonitrus'', and ''Ingentia'' which they named Lessemsauridae. It is a node-based taxon, defined as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of ''Lessemsaurus sauropoides'' and ''Antetonitrus ingenipes''. Depending on the definition of Sauropoda, Lessemsauridae is either one of the most basal sauropod taxa, or a sister taxon of Sauropoda. An additional member of the clade was named later in 2018, ''Ledumahadi''. A 2021 study by Pol and colleagues also assigned the genera '' Kholumolumo'' and ''Meroktenos'' to the group. Lessemsaurids are recognised as very large quadrupeds that achieved giant sizes (up to 12 metric tons) independently of other giant sauropodomorphs. They had highly pne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Colorados Formation
The Los Colorados Formation is a sedimentary rock formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, found in the provinces of San Juan and La Rioja in Argentina. The formation dates back to the Norian age of the Late Triassic. The up to thick formation comprises sandstones, siltstones, mudstones and conglomerates with gypsum layers deposited in a fluvial to lacustrine environment. The formation is the uppermost stratigraphic unit of the Agua de la Peña Group, overlying the Lagerstätte of the Ischigualasto Formation. Los Colorados Formation is partly covered by the Cretaceous Cerro Rajado Formation, separated by an unconformity. The formation is known for its fossils of early dinosaurs, including the coelophysoid ''Zupaysaurus'' and the "prosauropods" ''Coloradisaurus'', ''Lessemsaurus'', and '' Riojasaurus''.Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.527-528 Magnetostratigraphic analysis suggests that the Los Colorados Formation was deposited between 227 and 213 million years ago.Kent et ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Lessem
"Dino" Don Lessem (born 1951) is a writer of more than 50 popular science books, specializing in dinosaurs. He was the founder of the Dinosaur Society and the Jurassic Foundation, which collectively have raised millions of dollars for dinosaur research. He is the CEO and founder oDino Don, Inc, an animatronics company specializing in dinosaurs, dragons, and sea creatures. Career After a bachelor's degree in art history at Brandeis University and a master's in animal behavior from the University of Massachusetts Boston, Lessem began his writing career as a researcher for the Smithsonian Center for Short-Lived Phenomena. For more than a decade he was a science journalist specializing in conservation issues for the ''Boston Globe'' and a contributor to ''Life'', ''The New York Times'', and ''Smithsonian'' Magazine. Lessem's professional interest in dinosaurs developed while he was a Knight Journalism Fellow at MIT in 1988. He wrote his first book, ''Kings of Creation'', in 1990, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massospondylus
''Massospondylus'' ( ; from Greek, (massōn, "longer") and (spondylos, "vertebra")) is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic. (Hettangian to Pliensbachian ages, ca. 200–183 million years ago). It was described by Sir Richard Owen in 1854 from remains discovered in South Africa, and is thus one of the first dinosaurs to have been named. Fossils have since been found at other locations in South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. Material from Arizona's Kayenta Formation, India, and Argentina has been assigned to the genus at various times, but the Arizonan and Argentinian material are now assigned to other genera. The type species is ''M. carinatus''; seven other species have been named during the past 150 years, but only ''M. kaalae'' is still considered valid. Early sauropodomorph systematics have undergone numerous revisions during the last several years, and many scientists disagree where exactly ''Massospondylus'' lies on the dinosaur evolutiona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massopoda
Massopoda is a clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs which lived during the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous epochs. It was named by paleontologist Adam M. Yates of the University of the Witwatersrand in 2007. Massopoda is a stem-based taxon, defined as all animals more closely related to ''Saltasaurus loricatus'' than to ''Plateosaurus engelhardti''. The name Massopoda, ; , is also contraction of Massospondylidae and Sauropoda, two disparate taxa in the clade. Classification Yates assigned the Massopoda to Plateosauria. Within the clade, he assigned the families Massospondylidae (which includes the relatively well-known dinosaur ''Massospondylus'') and Riojasauridae (which includes ''Riojasaurus'') as well as the Sauropoda. The following is a cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coloradisaurus
''Coloradisaurus'' (meaning "Los Colorados lizard") is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Late Triassic period ( Norian stage) in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is known from two specimens collected from the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin. Taxonomy ''Coloradisaurus brevis'' was originally named ''Coloradia brevis'' by José Bonaparte in 1978, but that genus name was preoccupied by the pine moth '' Coloradia'', so it needed a replacement name. In 1983, David Lambert used the name ''Coloradisaurus'' for the genus, but did not indicate it was a replacement or diagnose it. Lambert had gotten the name from Bonaparte in a personal communication and mistakenly thought that Bonaparte had already published it. Peter Galton was the next to use the name ''Coloradisaurus'' in 1990, which he credited to Lambert, when he gave the taxon a diagnosis in his review of prosauropods in ''The Dinosauria''. Autho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riojasaurus
''Riojasaurus'' (meaning "Rioja lizard") was a herbivorous sauropodomorph dinosaur named after La Rioja Province in Argentina where it was found in the Los Colorados Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin by José Bonaparte. It lived during the Late Triassic (Norian stage) and grew to about long."Riojasaurus." In: Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. ''The Age of Dinosaurs''. Publications International, LTD. p. 41. . ''Riojasaurus'' is the only known riojasaurid to live in South America. Description ''Riojasaurus'' had a heavy body, bulky legs, and a long neck and tail. Its leg bones were dense and massive for an early sauropodomorph. In 2010 Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at and its weight at . By contrast, its vertebrae were lightened by hollow cavities, and unlike most early sauropodomorphs, ''Riojasaurus'' had fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturnalia (dinosaur)
''Saturnalia'' is an extinct genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur known from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil and possibly the Pebbly Arkose Formation, Zimbabwe. Discovery and naming ''Saturnalia'' was originally named on the basis of three partial skeletons. The holotype, MCP 3844-PV, a well-preserved semi-articulated postcranial skeleton, was discovered in mid-summer at Sanga da Alemoa, Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, in the geopark of Paleorrota. The two paratypes are MCP 3845-PV, partial skeleton including natural cast of partial mandible with teeth and some postcranial remains, and MCP 3846-PV, partial skeleton including postcranial remains. All specimens were collected in the "Wald-Sanga" (also known as "Sanga do Mato") locality from the Alemoa Member of the Santa Maria Formation (Rosário do Sul Group), dating to the Carnian faunal stage of the early Late Triassic, about 228 million years ago. A partial femu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lufengosaurus
''Lufengosaurus'' (, meaning "Lufeng lizard") is a genus of Massospondylidae, massospondylid dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now southwestern China. Discovery, taxonomy and research During the late 1930s geologist Bien Meinian began to uncover fossils at Shawan, Yunnan, Shawan near Lufeng County, Lufeng in Yunnan province. In 1938 he was joined by paleontologist Yang Zhongjian, at the time better known as "C.C. Young" in the West. In 1940, Yang named remains of a "prosauropod" ''Lufengosaurus huenei''. The generic name refers to Lufeng. The specific name (zoology), specific name honours Yang's old tutor, the German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene. The holotype, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, IVPP V15, a partial skeleton, was found in the Lower Lufeng Formation. Originally considered Triassic, this formation is now seen as dating to the Lower Jurassic (Hettangian–Sinemurian). A second species was named by Yan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plateosaurus
''Plateosaurus'' (probably meaning "broad lizard", often mistranslated as "flat lizard") is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic period, around 214 to 204 million years ago, in what is now Central and Northern Europe. ''Plateosaurus'' is a basal (early) sauropodomorph dinosaur, a so-called "prosauropod". The type species is ''Plateosaurus trossingensis''; before 2019, that honor was given to ''Plateosaurus engelhardti'', but it was ruled as undiagnostic (i.e. indistinguishable from other dinosaurs) by the ICZN. Currently, there are three valid species; in addition to ''P. trossingensis'', ''P. longiceps'' and ''P. gracilis'' are also known. However, others have been assigned in the past, and there is no broad consensus on the species taxonomy of plateosaurid dinosaurs. Similarly, there are a plethora of synonyms (invalid duplicate names) at the genus level. Discovered in 1834 by Johann Friedrich Engelhardt and described three years later by Herma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
