Plateosauravus

Plateosauravus
Temporal range: Late Triassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder: Prosauropoda
Family: unknown
Genus: Plateosauravus
von Huene, 1932
Species: P. cullingworthi
Sidney Haughton, 1924
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,[1] type specimen SAM 3341, 3345, 3347, 3350-51, 3603, 3607. The specific name honoured collector T.L. Cullingworth. Friedrich von Huene reassessed it in 1932 as belonging to a new genus, that he named Plateosauravus.[2] Jacques van Heerden reassigned it to Euskelosaurus in 1976, and this has been how it was usually considered.[3] However, recent study indicates that Euskelosaurus is based on undiagnostic material and thus a nomen dubium; 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.[4][5][6]

More than a dozen additional partial skeletons have been found in the Kruger National Park after a discovery by game warden Adriaan Louw on 27 March 1995. These include juvenile individuals.

References

  1. ^ Haughton, S.H. (1924) "The fauna and stratigraphy of the Stormberg Series". Annals of the South African Museum 12:323-497.
  2. ^ von Huene, F. (1932). Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte. Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, series 1:4, 361 pp.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Yates, A.M. (2006). Solving a dinosaurian puzzle: the identity of Aliwalia rex Galton. Historical Biology, iFirst article, 1-30.

External links