Outline: a typical early sauropodomorph
Gyposaurus
"vulture lizard"
Type species Gyposaurus capensis
- Lived
- 201 to 175 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Early sauropodomorphs, Anchisauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Broom 1911
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
190 million years ago
Field notes
About Gyposaurus
What it was like
Gyposaurus was a small plant eater from the long-necked line that later produced the giant sauropods. Its name, "vulture lizard," comes from an old idea that these animals ate meat.
The first species was named from South Africa, and a second species was later named from China. Many scientists think the South African bones come from young animals of other genera.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic. The Chinese species comes from the Lufeng Formation, where Lufengosaurus, Yunnanosaurus and the hunter Sinosaurus also lived.
How it was found
Broom named Gyposaurus in 1911. Its status is still debated.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Anchisauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: R. Broom. 1911. On the dinosaurs of the Stormberg, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 7(4):291-308