Euskelosaurus ("good leg lizard") was a semi-bipedal dinosaur from the Late Triassic. It was a plateosaurid that lived in the Late Triassic Period, in present-day South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe.
History of discovery[]
It was first described by Thomas Henry Huxleyin 1866 as Euskelesaurus brownii based on holotype BMNH R1625, limb and spinal bones found by Alfred Brown in 1863. It may actually be the same animal as Plateosauravus also found in southern Africa. The name was in 1902 emended by Friedrich von Huene into Euskelosaurus.
Description[]
Euskelosaurus has been estimated to have been about ten metres in length, which is somewhat large for a plateosaurid. Its limbs were large and sauropod-like. Another distinguishing feature of the limbs of Euskelosaurus is that the shaft of its thigh bone is twisted. Paleontologist Jacques van Heerden has suggested that this configuration effectively rendered Euskelosaurus bow-legged. If this is correct it is highly unusual for a dinosaur, as dinosaur legs are typically oriented directly under the body like in mammals.
Classification[]
While paleontologists generally consider Euskelosaurus a basal plateosaurid sauropodomorph, it has recently been considered a nomen dubium and a “waste-basket” taxon with poorly understood phylogenetic relationships, warranting further study.
JPInstitute.com Description[]
Euskelosaurus was one of the largest of the early dinosaurs and lived during the Late Triassic. In fact, this dinosaur was one of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth up until that point in time.
Euskelosaurus was a plant-eater that lived in the southern part of what is now Africa. It was similar to some of the early dinosaurs that have been uncovered in Argentina. This is possible because Africa and South America were connected during the Late Triassic period.
Euskelosaurus provides insight into dinosaur evolution because of its large size and early appearance. This animal also represents an interesting link in the evolutionary path towards quadrapedalism.
Known from a great deal of fragmentary material, a number of dinosaurs have been reclassified as Euskelosaurus, making it a seemingly abundant and successful herbivore. It is possible that this animal was an ancestor to Plateosaurus, which appeared after Euskelosaurus.