Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Gamatavus
Type species Gamatavus antiquus
- Lived
- 242 to 237 million years ago, Middle Triassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Silesauridae
- Found in
- Brazil
- Named by
- Pretto et al. 2022
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
240 million years ago
Field notes
About Gamatavus
What it was like
Gamatavus was a silesaurid, a small, slender relative of the dinosaurs. It is known from part of a hip bone.
Its world
It lived in the Triassic in what is now Brazil. Its bone comes from the Santa Maria Formation, one of the richest sources of early dinosaurs and their relatives.
How it was found
Pretto and colleagues named it in 2022. The type species is Gamatavus antiquus. It is one of the oldest known silesaurids.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Silesauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: F. A. Pretto, R. T. Müller, and D. Moroab, M. Silva Garcia, V. Dutra Paes Neto, Á. A. Stock Da Rosa. 2022. The oldest South American silesaurid: New remains from the Middle Triassic (Pinheiros-Chiniquá Sequence, Dinodontosaurus Assemblage Zone) increase the time range of silesaurid fossil record in southern Brazil. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 120:104039