   #copyright

Massospondylus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Dinosaurs

   iMassospondylus

                Fossil range: Late Triassic to Early Jurassic

   Massospondylus at the Natural History Museum, London.
   Massospondylus at the Natural History Museum, London.

                             Conservation status

   Extinct (fossil)
                   Scientific classification

   Kingdom:    Animalia
   Phylum:     Chordata
   Class:      Sauropsida
   Superorder: Dinosauria
   Order:      Saurischia
   Suborder:   Sauropodomorpha
   Infraorder: Prosauropoda
   Family:     Plateosauridae
   Genus:      Massospondylus
               Owen, 1854

   Massospondylus ( Greek 'elongated vertebra'), formerly known as
   Aristosaurus, was an Early Jurassic Period prosauropod, although, if
   Aetonyx is the same as Massospondylus, it lived from the Late Triassic
   as well. It was probably a plant eater (herbivore), although it is
   speculated that the prosauropods may have been omnivorous. This
   dinosaur was named by Sir Richard Owen in 1854, from remains found in
   South Africa. It is thus one of the first dinosaurs to be named.

   Fossils have since been found in Arizona's Kayenta Formation, South
   Africa and Zimbabwe.

Anatomy

   Enlarge

   Massospondylus was fairly large for a prosauropod at 6.1 meters (20
   feet) long. It was quadrupedal, about 5 feet tall and had an 8-foot
   long tail. The animal was a typical prosauropod in most other respects.
   It possessed a large body and long neck, a small head and almost
   circular eye sockets. Teeth in the lower jaw were not as long as those
   in the upper jaw. There also seems to be some variation of tooth
   morphology, based upon the tooth's position in the jaw, although this
   is not as pronounced as the specialization of teeth in
   Heterodontosaurus. Teeth occupying a position closer to the front of
   the snout were rounder than the more oval-shaped back teeth.
   Interestingly, the skull of the Arizona specimen is 25% larger than the
   largest skull from any African specimen. Gastroliths have been found in
   Massospondylus fossils.

Reproduction

   In the 1970s, six 190-million year old Massospondylus eggs were found,
   in Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa by James
   Kitching, who identified them as belonging most likely to
   Massospondylus. It took nearly 30 years before extraction was started
   on the fossils of the 6 inch embryos. They remain the oldest dinosaur
   embryos ever found. Notably, the near-hatchlings had no teeth,
   suggesting they had no way of feeding themselves. Scientists speculate
   that after-birth care might have been necessary. The four legs of the
   near-hatchlings were of equal length. The tail was short and the head
   over-sized. This suggests a different pattern of development for
   dinosaurs from that which had previously been thought.
     * University of the Witwatersrand

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massospondylus"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
