Outline: a typical early sauropodomorph
Sefapanosaurus
"Sefapano's lizard"
Type species Sefapanosaurus zastronensis
- Lived
- 227 to 200 million years ago, Late Triassic to Early Jurassic
- Group
- Early sauropodomorphs
- Found in
- South Africa
- Named by
- Otero et al. 2015
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
210 million years ago
Field notes
About Sefapanosaurus
What it was like
Sefapanosaurus was a plant eater from the long-necked line that later produced the giant sauropods. It is known from bones of the legs and feet, including an ankle bone of a distinctive cross shape.
Its world
It lived at the end of the Triassic or the start of the Jurassic in what is now South Africa. Its bones come from the Elliot Formation.
How it was found
Otero and colleagues named Sefapanosaurus in 2015. The bones had first been placed in another genus, and its name comes from a local word for the cross shape of its ankle bone.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Sauropodiformes
Sources: WikidataNamed in: A. Otero, E. Krupandan, and D. Pol, A. Chinsamy, J. Choiniere. 2015. A new basal sauropodiform from South Africa and the phylogenetic relationships of basal sauropodomorphs. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 174:589-634