Outline: a typical early sauropodomorph
Arcusaurus
"rainbow lizard"
- Lived
- 201 to 193 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Group
- Early sauropodomorphs
- Found in
- South Africa
- Named by
- Yates et al. 2011
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
195 million years ago
Field notes
About Arcusaurus
What it was like
Arcusaurus was a small early relative of the giant sauropods, known from skull pieces and parts of the skeleton of young animals.
Its world
It lived about 201 to 193 million years ago, in the Early Jurassic, in what is now South Africa. Its bones come from the Elliot Formation, where it shared the land with the plant eater Massospondylus, the small beaked Heterodontosaurus and the predator Dracovenator.
How it was found
Yates and colleagues named it in 2011. Its name refers to a rainbow seen over the site.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Sauropodomorpha
Sources: WikidataNamed in: A. M. Yates, M. F. Bonnan, and J. Neveling. 2011. A new basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(3):610-625