Seitaad
Type species Seitaad ruessi
- Lived
- 193 to 175 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Sertich and Loewen 2010
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
185 million years ago
Habitat
A desert of sand dunes in what is now Utah. Segisaurus also lived in the Navajo Sandstone desert.
Field notes
About Seitaad
What it was like
Seitaad was an early relative of the giant sauropods, a small plant eater known from a skeleton without the head, neck or tail.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic in what is now Utah. Its bones come from the Navajo Sandstone, which formed as a vast desert of sand dunes. The skeleton may have been buried by a collapsing dune. The small predator Segisaurus lived in the same desert.
How it was found
Sertich and Loewen named it in 2010. The type species is Seitaad ruessi. Its name comes from a sand monster of local legend.
Field gallery
More views of Seitaad
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 2
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Seitaad.
The evidence
The science behind Seitaad
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A partial skeleton preserves the back, ribs, shoulders, arms, hips and part of a hind leg.
- The hand had a thick thumb bone and a large, curved thumb claw.
- Its shoulder blade has a distinctive plate of bone projecting inward.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing head, neck and tail are restored by comparison with early sauropodomorphs such as Massospondylus and Adeopapposaurus.
Still unknown
- Its head shape and neck length.
- Its color and skin covering.
- Its closest branch in the sauropodomorph family tree.
Discovery timeline
- 2010Named itSertich & Loewen
- 2010Family treeRowe, Sues & Reisz
- 2011Family treeApaldetti et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Seitaad
Named it
Named an early sauropodomorph from a partial skeleton probably buried at the base of a collapsed sand dune.
A New Basal Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of Southern Utah. PLoS ONE 5: e9789
Read the paper : A New Basal Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of Southern Utah (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Compared Seitaad with other early North American sauropodomorphs and proposed that these dinosaurs reached the continent in separate arrivals.
Dispersal and diversity in the earliest North American sauropodomorph dinosaurs, with a description of a new taxon. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 278: 1044-1053
Read the paper : Dispersal and diversity in the earliest North American sauropodomorph dinosaurs, with a description of a new taxon (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Placed Seitaad closer to Anchisaurus and later sauropodomorphs than to Massospondylus.
A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina. PLoS ONE 6: e26964
Read the paper : A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Sauropodiformes
Sources: Wikidata