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Sauropodomorphs
Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had long necks and tails, were quadrupedal, and became the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. The '' prosauropods,'' which preceded the sauropods, were smaller and were often able to walk on two legs. The sauropodomorphs were the dominant terrestrial herbivores throughout much of the Mesozoic Era, from their origins in the Late Triassic (approximately 230 Ma) until their decline and extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. Description Sauropodomorphs were adapted to browsing higher than any other contemporary herbivore, giving them access to high tree foliage. This feeding strategy is supported by many of their defining characteristics, such as: a light, tiny skull on the end of a long neck (with ten or more elongated cervical vertebrae) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 mya; their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are feathered dinosaurs, having evolved from earlier theropods during the Late Jurassic epoch, and are the only dinosaur lineage known to have survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event approximately 66 mya. Dinosaurs can therefore be divided into avian dinosaurs—birds—and the extinct non-avian dinosaurs, which are all dinosaurs other than birds. Dinosaurs are varied from taxonomic, morphological and ecological standpoints. Birds, at over 10,700 living species ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eoraptor Lunensis
''Eoraptor'' () is a genus of small, lightly built, basal sauropodomorph. One of the earliest-known dinosaurs, it lived approximately 231 to 228 million years ago, during the Late Triassic in Western Gondwana, in the region that is now northwestern Argentina. The type and only species, ''Eoraptor lunensis'', was first described in 1993, and is known from an almost complete and well-preserved skeleton and several fragmentary ones. ''Eoraptor'' had multiple tooth shapes, which suggests that it was omnivorous. History of discovery The bones of this primitive dinosaur were first discovered in 1991, by University of San Juan paleontologist Ricardo Martínez, during field work conducted by the University of Chicago and the University of San Juan. The holotype specimen ''PVSJ 512'' was discovered in muddy siltstone belonging to the Cancha de Bochas Member of the Ischigualasto Formation in Argentina. The fossils in this formation were deposited in the Carnian stage of the Triassic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eoraptor
''Eoraptor'' () is a genus of small, lightly built, basal sauropodomorph. One of the earliest-known dinosaurs, it lived approximately 231 to 228 million years ago, during the Late Triassic in Western Gondwana, in the region that is now northwestern Argentina. The type and only species, ''Eoraptor lunensis'', was first described in 1993, and is known from an almost complete and well-preserved skeleton and several fragmentary ones. ''Eoraptor'' had multiple tooth shapes, which suggests that it was omnivorous. History of discovery The bones of this primitive dinosaur were first discovered in 1991, by University of San Juan paleontologist Ricardo Martínez, during field work conducted by the University of Chicago and the University of San Juan. The holotype specimen ''PVSJ 512'' was discovered in muddy siltstone belonging to the Cancha de Bochas Member of the Ischigualasto Formation in Argentina. The fossils in this formation were deposited in the Carnian stage of the Triassic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buriolestes
''Buriolestes'' is a genus of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation of the Paraná Basin in southern Brazil. It contains a single species, ''B. schultzi'', named in 2016. The type specimen was found alongside a specimen of the lagerpetid dinosauromorph ''Ixalerpeton''. Discovery and naming The holotype specimen, ULBRA-PVT280, was discovered in 2009 in the Buriol ravine in São João do Polêsine, Brazil. These rocks are part of the Santa Maria Formation, which dates to the Carnian epoch. The specimen consists of a single skeleton preserving parts of the skull, vertebrae, left forelimb, and left hindlimb. Another set of smaller bones is also present, which may belong to a juvenile or a different taxon altogether. Two individuals of ''Ixalerpeton'' were also preserved close by. Additional remains were discovered in 2015 and published in 2018. These include a mostly complete skeleton, CAPPA/UFSM 0035, which preserves a complete skull and most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guaibasauridae
Guaibasauridae is a family of basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, known from fossil remains of late Triassic period formations in Brazil and Argentina. Classification The exact makeup and classification of the Guaibasauridae remain uncertain. The family was originally named by Jose Bonaparte and colleagues in 1999 to contain a single genus and species, '' Guaibasaurus candelariensis''. When the second specimen of ''Guaibasaurus'' was described from better remains in 2007, it became easier to compare it to other enigmatic early saurischians, which are often difficult to classify because they combine characteristics of the two major saurischian groups, Theropoda and Sauropodomorpha. Bonaparte and colleagues, in light of the information gained from this second specimen, found that the genus '' Saturnalia'' (which is anatomically very similar to ''Guaibasaurus'') could also be assigned to the Guaibasauridae, though they did not conduct a phylogenetic analysis or define Guaibasaurida ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saurischian
Saurischia ( , meaning "reptile-hipped" from the Greek ' () meaning 'lizard' and ' () meaning 'hip joint') is one of the two basic divisions of dinosaurs (the other being Ornithischia), classified by their hip structure. Saurischia and Ornithischia were originally called orders by Harry Seeley in 1888 though today most paleontologists classify Saurischia as an unranked clade rather than an order.Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). (2004). ''The Dinosauria. 2nd edition''. University of California Press, Berkeley. 833 pp. Description All carnivorous dinosaurs (certain types of theropods) are traditionally classified as saurischians, as are all of the birds and one of the two primary lineages of herbivorous dinosaurs, the sauropodomorphs. At the end of the Cretaceous Period, all saurischians except the birds became extinct in the course of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Birds, as direct descendants of one group of theropod dinosaurs, are a sub-clad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arcusaurus
''Arcusaurus'' is an extinct genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian to Sinemurian stages) of South Africa. ''Arcusaurus'' was first named by Adam Yates, Matthew Bonnan and Johann Neveling in 2011 and the type species is ''Arcusaurus pereirabdalorum''. The generic name is derived from Latin ''arcus'', "rainbow", a reference to the Rainbow Nation. The specific epithet honours Lucille Pereira and Fernando Abdala who discovered the fossils. A phylogenetic study of ''Arcusaurus'' found it to be a basal sauropodomorph, placing it as the sister taxon of '' Efraasia'' and all of the more derived sauropodomorphs. Since ''Efraasia'' is known from the Norian stage of the Late Triassic, the close relationship with ''Arcusaurus'' implies that there was a 35-million-year ghost lineage of sauropodomorphs stretching from Late Triassic forms to ''Arcusaurus''. However, ''Arcusaurus'' possesses many features unique to more advanced groups included in the clad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropoda
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include '' Brachiosaurus'', '' Diplodocus'', '' Apatosaurus'' and '' Brontosaurus''. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. '' Isanosaurus'' and '' Antetonitrus'' were originally described as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of ''Antetonitrus'' also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned. Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic. By the Late Jurassic (150 mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagualosaurus
''Bagualosaurus'' is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Candelária Sequence (Uppermost Santa Maria Formation) of Brazil, dating to around 230 million years ago in the Carnian of the Late Triassic. It includes one species, ''Bagualosaurus agudoensis''. Discovery In 2007, in a ravine at the outcrop of Janner, near Agudo in Rio Grande do Sul, a sauropodomorph skeleton was excavated. It was removed in a single block of stone. For five years it remained unprepared in the collection of the ''Laboratório de Paleovertebrados da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul'', curated by Cesar Leandro Schultz. In 2012, Flávio Augusto Pretto began to study the specimen. In 2018, Pretto, Max Cardoso Langer and Schultz named and described the type species ''Bagualosaurus agudoensis''. The generic name is derived from ''bagual'', "strongly built fellow" in the dialect of Rio Grande do Sul, in reference to the strong hindlimbs. The specific name refers to the provenance from Agudo. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Efraasia
''Efraasia'' (pronounced "E-FRAHS-ee-A") 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. It was named in 1973 after Eberhard Fraas, who during the early twentieth century collected what were the original type specimens. The specimens were at first assigned to three already existing genera and so became divided among three separate species: ''Teratosaurus minor'', ''Sellosaurus fraasi'' and ''Paleosaurus diagnosticus''. In 2003 these were combined into a single valid species: ''Efraasia minor''. ''Efraasia'' was a lightly built, medium-sized sauropodomorph, about long. Discovery and naming ''Efraasia'' has had a complicated taxonomic history involving several genera and species. Material now known under ''Efraasia'' first came to light after Albert Burrer, ''Hofsteinmetzmeister'' ("Court master stonemason") at Maulbronn, in 1902 began to e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europasaurus Holgeri
''Europasaurus'' is a basal macronarian sauropod, a form of quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaur. It lived during the Late Jurassic (middle Kimmeridgian, about 154 million years ago) of northern Germany, and has been identified as an example of insular dwarfism resulting from the isolation of a sauropod population on an island within the Lower Saxony basin. Discovery and naming In 1998, a single sauropod tooth was discovered by private fossil collector Holger Lüdtke in an active quarry at Langenberg Mountain, between the communities of Oker, Harlingerode and Göttingerode in Germany. The Langenberg chalk quarry had been active for more than a century; rocks are quarried using blasting and are mostly processed into fertilisers. The quarry exposes a nearly continuous, thick succession of carbonate rocks belonging to the Süntel Formation, that ranges in age from the early Oxfordian to late Kimmeridgian stages and have been deposited in a shallow sea with a water depth of less than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pantydraco
''Pantydraco'' (where "panty-" is short for Pant-y-ffynnon, signifying ''hollow of the spring/well'' in Welsh, referring to the quarry at Bonvilston in South Wales where it was found) was a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic of the United Kingdom (Wales). It is based on a partial juvenile skeleton once thought to belong to ''Thecodontosaurus''. Only one valid species of ''Pantydraco'' is recognised: ''P. caducus.'' Description ''Pantydraco'' was of moderate build. The creature had a long tail that tapered towards the end and was broad at the hip joint. It had a pointed head with a strong jaw. The forelimbs of the dinosaur were developed for grasping while the hindlimbs were adapted for supporting the creature's body weight. The center of mass lies near the pelvic bone, meaning the creature was bipedal. The forelimbs were shorter than the hindlimbs. The hands had three movable digits while the fourth digit was embedded. It had well-developed claws. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
