Outline: a typical early sauropodomorph
Saturnalia
- Lived
- 237 to 227 million years ago, Late Triassic
- Group
- Early sauropodomorphs, Saturnaliidae
- Found in
- Brazil
- Named by
- Langer et al. 1999
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
230 million years ago
Field notes
About Saturnalia
What it was like
Saturnalia was one of the earliest relatives of the giant sauropods, but it was small and slender, with a small head and a long neck. It walked on two legs and probably ate plants and perhaps small animals.
Its world
It lived in the Late Triassic in what is now Brazil. Its bones come from the Santa Maria Formation, one of the richest sources of early dinosaurs, where it lived alongside the predators Staurikosaurus and Gnathovorax and the meat-eating Buriolestes.
How it was found
Langer and colleagues named Saturnalia in 1999. Its name comes from an ancient festival, because the bones were found during the carnival season.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Saturnaliidae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: M. C. Langer, F. Abdala, and M. Richter, M. J. Benton. 1999. A sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Upper Triassic (Carnian) of southern Brazil. Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris: Sciences de la terre et des planètes 329:511-517