Euskelosaurus

Yew-skel-o-sore-us.
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Lilah Turner

Evolutionary Biologist

Lilah Turner investigates how prehistoric animals adapted to changing environments, offering insights into evolution's mechanisms.

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Name

Euskelosaurus ‭(‬good leg lizard‭)‬.

Phonetic

Yew-skel-o-sore-us.

Named By

Classification

Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Saurischia,‭ ‬Sauropodomorpha.

Diet

Herbivore.

Species

E.‭ ‬browni‭

Size

Roughly about‭ ‬10‭ ‬meters long.

Known locations

Lesotho‭ ‬-‭ ‬Lower Elliot Formation.‭ ‬South Africa‭ ‬-‭ ‬Lower Elliot Formation.‭ ‬Zimbabwe‭ ‬-‭ ‬Mpandi Formation.

Time Period

Norian of the‭ ‬Triassic to the Early Jurassic.

Fossil representation

Many‭ ‬individuals are known.

In Depth

       Euskelosaurus may have been quite specialised for a sauropodomorph dinosaur since the shaft of the femur is physically twisted.‭ ‬This led‭ ‬in‭ ‬1979‭ ‬to‭ ‬a palaeontologist by the name of Heerden to suggest that Euskelosaurus might have been bow legged instead of just growing straight down like similar sauropodomorphs.‭ ‬The twisting of the femur may have been a way that Euskelosaurus adapted to cope with its large body,‭ ‬which at ten meters long would have been one of the largest of all the sauropodomorphs‭ (‬though some species such as Yunnanosaurus youngi grew even bigger‭)‬.‭ ‬Fossils of Euskelosaurus from Lesotho and South Africa are so far Late Triassic in age‭ (‬Norian to Rhaetian‭)‬,‭ ‬while Euskelosaurus fossils from Zimbabwe seem to be from the early Jurassic.

Further Reading

– On some remains of large dinosaurian reptiles from the Stormberg Mountains, South Africa. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 23(1):1-6. – Thomas Henry Huxley – 1866. -‭ ‬The morphology and taxonomy of Euskelosaurus‭ (‬Reptilia:‭ ‬Saurischia‭; ‬Late Triassic‭) ‬from South Africa.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum,‭ ‬4‭(‬2‭)‬:‭ ‬23-84.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Jacques van Heerden‭ ‬-‭ ‬1979. – Biochronostratigraphy of the Lower Elliot Formation, southern Africa) and preliminary results on the Maphutseng dinosaur. Saurischia: Prosauropoda) from the same Formation of Lesotho, by Francois-Xavier Gauffre. In, The Nonmarine Triassic: Bulletin 3. pp. 147–9. – Spencer G. Lucas & Michael Morales (eds.). – 1993. – The basicranium of a basal prosauropod from the Euskelosaurus range zone and thoughts on the origin of dinosaurs. – Journal of African Earth Sciences. 29 (1): 227–232. – Johann Welman – 1999. – The death of a dinosaur: dismembering Euskelosaurus. Geoscience Africa. p. 715. – A. M. Yates – 2004.

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