Thecodontosaurus

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Thecodontosaurus
Graphic representation of Thecodontosaurus

Graphic representation of Thecodontosaurus

Temporal occurrence
Upper Triassic ( Rhaetium )
208.5 to 201.3 million years
Locations
Systematics
Dinosaur (dinosauria)
Lizard dinosaur (Saurischia)
Sauropodomorpha
Thecodontosaurus
Scientific name
Thecodontosaurus
Riley & Stuchbury , 1836

Thecodontosaurus ("root tooth lizard") was an approximately 2.5 meter long dinosaur from the group of the Sauropodomorpha that lived at the end of the Triassic ( Rhaetium ). The genus is known from more than 100 individual skeletal parts of adult specimens that were not found in an anatomical context and a partially preserved skeleton of a young animal about one meter long. All of the fossil remains were found in England and Wales .

Type species is Thecodontosaurus antiquu s . As nouns dubia apply Thecodontosaurus dubius and Thecodontosaurus minor . The Thecodontosaurus caducus originally placed in the genus now belongs to a different genus as Pantydraco caducus .

features

Thecodontosaurus was about 2.5 meters long. The skull was relatively small (5% of the body length). Thecodontosaurus was one of the first prosauropods to have lanceolate teeth with serrated crowns . The trunk was relatively short and, as with all primitive prosauropods, its forelegs were shorter than its hind legs. Therefore it is assumed that Thecodontosaurus moved biped (only with the hind legs).

Systematics

Thecodontosaurus was described by Riley and Stuchbury in 1836 , so the reptile was known six years before Richard Owen described the dinosaurs in 1842. It was not until Thomas Henry Huxley recognized that the genus belonged to the dinosaurs in 1870. Today he is considered the most ancient representative of the Prosauropoda.

Cladogram:

  Sauropodomorpha 

 Thecodontosaurus


   

 Plateosaurus


   

 Massospondylidae


   

 Sauropoda





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literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 163, online .
  2. Fastovsky & Weishampel (2005), p. 249
  3. a b Michael J. Benton : Paleontology of the vertebrates. Translation of the 3rd English edition. Pfeil, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-89937-072-0 , p. 213.
  4. Fastovsky & Weishampel (2005), p. 243
  5. Fastovsky & Weishampel (2005), page 257
  6. Fastovsky & Weishampel (2005), page 250