Plateosauravus

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iPlateosauravus

Extinct (fossil)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder:	Prosauropoda
Family:	unknown
Genus:	Plateosauravus
Species:	P. cullingworthi

Binomial name

Plateosauravus cullingworthi
von Huene, 1932

Plateosauravus ("grandfather of Plateosaurus") is a basal sauropodomorph of uncertain affinities from the late Triassic of South Africa. Sidney Haughton named Plateosaurus cullingworthi in 1924 from a partial skeleton, which Friedrich von Huene reassessed in 1932 as belonging to a new genus, Plateosauravus. Jacques van Heerden reassigned it to Euskelosaurus in 1976, and this has been how it was usually considered. However, recent study indicates that Euskelosaurus is based on undiagnostic material (Yates, 2003; Yates and Kitching, 2003; Yates, 2006). In his series of sauropodomorph and basal sauropod papers, Adam Yates has recommended no longer using Euskelosaurus and has suggested the use of Plateosauravus instead for what is normally thought of as Euskelosaurus.

[edit] References

Haughton, S.H. 1924. The fauna and stratigraphy of the Stormberg Series. Annals of the South African Museum 12:323-497.

van Heerden, J. 1979. The morphology and taxonomy of Euskelosaurus (Reptilia: Saurischia; Late Triassic) from South Africa. Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum 4(2):23-84.

von Huene, F. 1932. Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte. Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, series 1:4, 361 pp.

Yates, A.M. 2003. A new species of the primitive dinosaur Thecodontosaurus (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha) and its implications for the systematics of early dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 1(1):1-42

Yates, A.M. 2006. Solving a dinosaurian puzzle: the identity of Aliwalia rex Galton. Historical Biology, iFirst article, 1-30.

Yates, A.M., and Kitching, J.W. 2003. The earliest known sauropod dinosaur and the first steps towards sauropod locomotion. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 270(1525):1753-1758.