Melanorosaurus by Moondawg

Melanorosaurus

Melanorosaurus, "Black Mountain Lizard", from the (Greek melano "black", "mountain" + saurus"lizard", was a 12 meter long sauropod dinosaur that lived in the Late Triassic period. A herbivore from South Africa, it had a great body and sturdy limbs, suggesting it moved about on all fours. Limb bones were massive and weighty, like sauropod limb bones. But, like most sauropods vertebrae, its spinal bones had hollows that helped reduce weight. Unfortunately, a skull has not been found to date.

The type specimen was described in 1924, having been collected from the Upper Triassic Elliot Formation on the north slope of the Thaba 'Nyama (Black Mountain) in Transkei, South Africa. It wasn't until 2007 when the first complete skull of Melanorosaurus was described.[1] Two species are known: M. readi, the type species, and M. thabanensis.

Melanorosaurus was once classified as a prosauropod, but is now recognized as one of the earliest known sauropods. Once thought to be an ancestral basal assemblage to the sauropods, differences in e.g. the design of their ankle bones point out that these are sister groups. Basal sauropods such as Melanorosaurus, Anchisaurus and Antetonitrus are intermediate between these groups.

Melanorosaurus had a skull which measured approximately 250 mm. The snout was somewhat pointed, and the skull was somewhat triangular when seen from above or below. The premaxilla had four teeth on each side, a characteristic of primitive sauropodomorphs. The maxilla had 19 teeth on each side of the jaw.

Melanorosaurus was around 12 meters long.