Plateosauravus

Plateosauravus ("grandfather of Plateosaurus") is a basal plateosaurian of uncertain affinities from the Late Triassic Elliot Formation of South Africa.

Plateosauravus
Temporal range: Norian
~221–202 Ma
Humerus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Sauropsida
Superorder:
Dinosauria
Order:
Saurischia
Suborder:
†Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder:
†Plateosauria
Genus:
†Plateosauravus

Species:
†P. cullingworthi

(Sidney Haughton 1924 [originally Plateosaurus])
Binomial name
†Plateosauravus cullingworthi

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, which 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.[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.[7]

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.
  7. Durand, J.F. 2001. The oldest juvenile dinosaurs from Africa. African Earth Sciences 33:597–603.
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