Plateosauridae
The Plateosaurids or Prosauropods were a group of early herbivorous dinosaurs that lived during the later Triassic and early Jurassic periods.
Plateosaurids | |
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Mounted skeletons of Plateosaurus engelhardti from the Trossingen Formation of southern Germany, mounted in the Institute for Geosciences Tübingen | |
Scientific classification | |
Unrecognized taxon (fix): | Plateosauridae |
Type species | |
Plateosaurus engelhardti von Meyer, 1837
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Genera | |
Synonyms | |
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They were the largest herbivores in their environment, and quickly reached (6 to 10 meters long). All prosauropods had a long neck and small head, forelimbs shorter than the hindlimbs, and a very large thumb claw for defense. They were originally thought to be the ancestors of the sauropods, but are now considered by some as a parallel lineage.
Taxonomy
- Infraorder Prosauropoda
- ?Yimenosaurus
- Meroktenos
- ?Mussaurus
- Family Riojasauridae
- Eucnemesaurus
- Riojasaurus
- Family Plateosauridae