Name:
Melanorosaurus
(Black mountain lizard).
Phonetic: Meh-lan-os-sore-us.
Named By: Sidney H. Haughton - 1924.
Classification: Chrodata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha.
Species: M. readi (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Up to 8 meters long. Skull 25
centimetres long.
Known locations: South Africa - Elliot Formation.
Time period: Carnian to Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Complete skull and partial
post cranial remains.
Melanorosaurus
is usually referred to as a sauropodomorph
although it’s precise
position
can vary according to different sources. Nevertheless,
Melanorosaurus represents a form that is
intermediate between the
bipedal sauropod ancestors, and the later larger quadrupedal forms.
Also while not as grand in size as the later sauropods, at up to
eight meters long Melanorosaurus was still one of
the largest known
land animals of its day.
A
former species of Melanorosaurus, M.
thabanensis, has now been moved to
its own genus called Meroktenos.
Further reading
- The fauna and stratigraphy of the Stormberg Series. - Annals of the
South African Museum 12 : 323-497 - S. H. Haughton - 1924.
- Postcranial Anatomy of Referred Specimens of Melanorosaurus.
- In
Carpenter, Kenneth and Tidswell, Virginia (ed.). Thunder Lizards: The
Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press. pp. 1–37. - P. M.
Galton, J. Van Heerden & A. M. Yates - 2005.
- The first complete skull of the Triassic dinosaur Melanorosaurus
Haughton (Sauropodomorpha: Anchisauria). - In Barrett & Batten
(eds.), Evolution and Palaeobiology (2007), pp. 9–55. - Adam M. Yates.