Vulcanodon

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Vulcanodon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder: Sauropoda
Family: Vulcanodontidae
Genus: Vulcanodon
Raath, 1972
Species
  • V. karibaensis Raath, 1972 (type)

Vulcanodon (meaning "volcano tooth") was a relatively small, early sauropod dinosaur genus from the Early Jurassic. It was about 6.5 meters (20 ft) long. Vulcanodon ate plants and lived in southern Africa. The type species, V. karibaensis, was formally described by Michael A. Raath of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1972. It was originally believed to be a prosauropod because of the knife shaped teeth found near its fossils, which fit in with the idea that prosauropods were omnivorous, but scientists now know that the teeth belonged to an unidentified theropod that scavenged on the Vulcanodon's carcass.

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