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Massospondylidae
Massospondylidae is a family (biology), family of early massopod dinosaurs that existed in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and AntarcticaHellert, Spencer M. "A New Basal Sauropodomorph from The Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of Antarctica." Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs,. Vol. 44. No. 5. 2012. during the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic periods. Several dinosaurs have been classified as massospondylids over the years. The largest cladistic analysis of early sauropodomorphs, which was presented by Apaldetti and colleagues in November 2011, found ''Adeopapposaurus'', ''Coloradisaurus'', ''Glacialisaurus'', ''Massospondylus'', ''Leyesaurus'' and ''Lufengosaurus'' to be massospondylids. This result supports many previous analyses that tested fewer taxa. However, this analysis found the two recently described North American massopods, ''Sarahsaurus'' and ''Seitaad'', and the South African ''Ignavusaurus'' to nest outside Massospondylidae, as oppos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massospondylus Carinatus
''Massospondylus'' ( ) is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa. 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. Although the original fossils were destroyed in London during a bombing raid in World War II, a plethora of specimens have since been assigned to the genus, making it one of the best-known sauropodomorphs from the Early Jurassic. The genus lived from the Hettangian to Pliensbachian ages, ca. 200–183 million years ago. Most fossils come from the upper Elliot and Clarens formations of South Africa and Lesotho, but the genus is also found in the Forest Sandstone and the Mpandi Formation of Zimbabwe. Material from the US, India, and Argentina was previously assigned to the genus, but the US and Argentinian specimens are now assigned to their own genera (''Sarahsaurus'' and '' Adeopapposaurus''). Because of their great abundanc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massospondylus
''Massospondylus'' ( ) is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa. 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. Although the original fossils were destroyed in London during a bombing raid in World War II, a plethora of specimens have since been assigned to the genus, making it one of the best-known sauropodomorphs from the Early Jurassic. The genus lived from the Hettangian to Pliensbachian ages, ca. 200–183 million years ago. Most fossils come from the upper Elliot and Clarens formations of South Africa and Lesotho, but the genus is also found in the Forest Sandstone and the Mpandi Formation of Zimbabwe. Material from the US, India, and Argentina was previously assigned to the genus, but the US and Argentinian specimens are now assigned to their own genera ('' Sarahsaurus'' and '' Adeopapposaurus''). Because of their great abun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xingxiulong
''Xingxiulong'' (meaning "Xingxiu Bridge dragon") is a genus of bipedal massopodan sauropodomorph from the Early Jurassic of China. It contains two species; the type species is ''X. chengi'', described by Wang et al. in 2017 from three specimens, two adults and an immature individual, that collectively constitute a mostly complete skeleton. Adults of this species measured long and tall. A second species, ''X. yueorum'', was described by Chen et al. in 2025 based on a partial articulated postcranial skeleton of an adult individual larger than ''X. chengi''. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that ''Xingxiulong'' is most closely related to its contemporary ''Jingshanosaurus'', although an alternative position outside of both the Sauropodiformes and Massospondylidae is also plausible. Despite their close relationship, ''Xingxiulong'' prominently differs from ''Jingshanosaurus''—and from most basal sauropodomorphs—in having a number of sauropod-like traits. These include a sacrum c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lufengosaurus
''Lufengosaurus'' (, meaning "Lufeng lizard") is a genus of massospondylid dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now southwestern China."Lufengosaurus." 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. 38. . History of Discovery The first remains of ''Lufengosaurus'' were found during the late 1930s by geologist Bien Meinian in the Lower Lufeng Formation at Shawan, near Lufeng in the Yunnan Province of China. From 1938 onwards, Meinian was joined by paleontologist C. C. Young (Chinese: 杨钟健, Yáng Zhōngjiàn). Young would go on to name the animal's type species, ''Lufengosaurus huenei,'' in 1940, with the generic name referring to Lufeng where it was found and the specific name honoring Young's old tutor, the German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massopod
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 primitive sauropodomorphs which preceded the sauropods, and are informally called prosauropods, 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. History of study Early study Gigantic bones of sauropods have been known for thousands of years and become part of legends and cultures but the beginning of their scientific study was in the 1830s. Most of the early taxonomy was based on incomplete and disarticulated materia ... [...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''. Author ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glacialisaurus
''Glacialisaurus'' is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic period (geology), period of Antarctica. It is known from two specimens; the holotype (name-bearing specimen), a partial Tarsus (skeleton), tarsus (ankle) and Metatarsal bones, metatarsus, and a partial left femur (upper thigh bone). The fossils were collected by a team led by paleontologist William R. Hammer during a 1990–91 field expedition to the central region of the Transantarctic Mountains. They come from sedimentary rocks of the Hanson Formation and date to the Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic, around 186 to 182 million years ago. The fossils were described in 2007, and made the basis of the new genus and species ''Glacialisaurus hammeri''. The genus name translates as “icy” or "frozen lizard”, and the specific name honors Hammer. This dinosaur has been classified as a Massospondylidae, massospondylid, a group of medium-sized, Basal (phylogenetics), basal (early diverging or " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pradhania
''Pradhania'' (named after Dhuiya Pradhan, a fossil collector at the Indian Statistical Institute) is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Sinemurian-age (Early Jurassic) Upper Dharmaram Formation of India. It was first named by T. S. Kutty, Sankar Chatterjee, Peter M. Galton and Paul Upchurch in 2007 and the type species is ''Pradhania gracilis''. It was a sauropodomorph of modest size, only about four meters (13 ft) long, and is known from fragmentary remains. It was originally regarded as a basal sauropodomorph but new cladistic analysis performed by Novas ''et al.'', 2011 suggests that ''Pradhania'' is a massospondylid. ''Pradhania'' presents two synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ... of Massospondylidae recovered in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leyesaurus
''Leyesaurus'' is an extinct genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur known from the San Juan Province, northwestern Argentina. Description ''Leyesaurus'' is known from the holotype PVSJ 706, a nearly complete skull with articulated mandible and some postcranial remains (vertebral column, scapular and pelvic girdles and hindlimb). The skull has a length of 18 centimeters, and ''Leyesaurus'' has been estimated to have been about in length. It was collected from the uppermost part of the Quebrada del Barro Formation of the Marayes-El Carrizal Basin, dating to the Lower Jurassic (based on the similarities between ''Leyesaurus'' and Lower Jurassic sauropodomorphs, like ''Massospondylus'' and '' Adeopapposaurus''). ''Leyesaurus'' was found near the locality Balde de Leyes, in the Caucete Department of San Juan Province. Within Massospondylidae, ''Leyesaurus'' was found to be most closely related to '' Adeopapposaurus''. Etymology ''Leyesaurus'' was first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngwevu
''Ngwevu'' is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa. The genus contains one species, ''Ngwevu intloko.'' Discovery and naming The genus ''Ngwevu'' is known from only one specimen, BP/1/4779, which is stored in the Environmental Studies Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The holotype specimen was discovered in 1978 by James Kitching, James William Kitching in the Tevrede Farm, located in Fouriesburg district, South Africa. The strata which preserved the specimen was located in the Clarens Formation, which is Pliensbachian-early Toarcian in age. The specimen was initially considered a specimen of the genus ''Massospondylus'' but in 2019 was designated as a new genus and species ''Ngwevu ntloko'' (; directly from Xhosa language, Xhosa 'ngwevu' and 'intloko' meaning "grey skull"). Description ''Ngwevu'' can be distinguished from other sauropodomorphs based on a unique combination of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adeopapposaurus
''Adeopapposaurus'' (meaning "far eating lizard", in reference to its long neck) is a genus of plateosaurian dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Cañón del Colorado Formation of San Juan, Argentina. It was similar to ''Massospondylus''. Four partial skeletons with two partial skulls are known. The type specimen, PVSJ568, includes a skull and most of a skeleton to just past the hips. The form of the bones at the tips of the upper and lower jaws suggests it had keratinous beaks. The fossils now named ''Adeopapposaurus'' were first thought to represent South American examples of ''Massospondylus''; while this is no longer the case, ''Adeopapposaurus'' is classified as a massospondylid. ''Adeopapposaurus'' was described in 2009 by Ricardo N. Martínez. The type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxono ... [...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 Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutionary history, evolution of dinosaurs is a subject of active research. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event 201.3 mya and their dominance continued throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The fossil record shows that birds are feathered dinosaurs, Evolution of birds, having evolved from earlier Theropoda, 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 taxonomy (biology), taxonomic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
