Ignavusaurus

• Lesotho ( Upper Elliot Formation)

• Ignavusaurus Rachelis

Ignavusaurus is a genus of dinosaur from the group of Sauropodomorpha. The only way is Ignavusaurus Rachelis. It was first described in 2010 based on a well-preserved skeleton, partially derived from the Lower Jurassic Upper Elliot Formation in Lesotho. It was a very original representatives of Sauropodomorpha, which was probably more advanced than Thecodontosaurus and Pantydraco, but more primitive than Efraasia and Plateosaurus.

Features

The only known skeleton belonged to a young animal, which was probably less than a year old and was in the phase of rapid growth. The body length of this specimen is estimated at 1.5 meters, the weight to about 22.5 kilograms. It was a two-legged animal with a long neck and small head, as with other original Sauropodomorphen.

The skull is fragmented and is present in more than 120 small fragments, which complicates the interpretation. The teeth were thin, laterally flattened and cut. Notable was the diversity of the teeth ( Heterodontie ): While some teeth pointed zuliefen and were ungesägt, others spatulate teeth were sawn and convex on the side facing the lip side. This Heterodontie could point out that Ignavusaurus was not pure herbivores, as was the case with more advanced Sauropodomorphen as Plateosaurus, but that diet was opportunistic (less fussy ).

System

Previously, the Sauropodomorpha were divided into two groups: the prosauropods and sauropods. Today, the sauropods are considered the direct descendants of prosauropods that prosauropods therefore do not form a monophyletic group and are now used only rarely. Ignavusaurus was one of the classic " prosauropods " and was probably close to the direct ancestors of advanced prosauropods and related sauropods. A cladistic analysis of Fabien Knoll ( 2010) comes to the conclusion that Ignavusaurus was more advanced than Saturnalia, Pantydraco and Thecodontosaurus, but more primitive than Efraasia, Plateosaurus and Massospondylus.

Adam Yates and colleagues ( 2011) suggest that Ignavusaurus was identical to Massospondylus. Researchers led by Cecilia Apaldetti (2011) Ignavusaurus accept as a valid species - in their cladistic analysis of this genus is closely related to Sarahsaurus.

Fund and naming

The only skeleton comes from the southern district of Lesotho in Qacha 's Nek. The skeleton was recovered from a reddish siltstone and mostly found in anatomical connection.

Ignavusaurus Rachelis was described in 2010 by Fabien Knoll first time scientifically. The name Ignavusaurus means as much as " coward lizard", from the Latin ignavus - " coward ", gr sauros - " lizard", because the name of the site Ha Ralekoala with " The place of the father of the coward " can be translated. The second part of the species name, Rachelis, the lateinisierte form of the name Raquel and honors the paleontologist Raquel López- Anto ǹ Anzas.