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A primitive sauropodomorph from the upper Elliot Formation of Lesotho

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2010

F. KNOLL
F. KNOLL*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, C/José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain
*
*E-mail: mcnfk854@mncn.csic.es
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Abstract

A well-preserved, articulated dinosaur skeleton from southern Africa is described. The specimen comes from the upper Elliot Formation (?Hettangian) of Ha Ralekoala (Lesotho) and represents a new species: Ignavusaurus rachelis genus et species nova. A cladistic analysis suggests that Ignavusaurus is more derived than Thecodontosaurus–Pantydraco, but more primitive than Efraasia. Ignavusaurus indeed shares a number of unambiguous synapomorphies with the taxa more derived than Thecodontosaurus–Pantydraco, such as a fully open acetabulum, but it is more plesiomorphic than Efraasia and more derived sauropodomorphs as shown by the evidence of, for instance, the distal extremity of its tibia that is is longer (cranio-caudally) than wide (latero-medially). The discovery of Ignavusaurus increases the known diversity of the early sauropodomorph fauna of the upper Elliot Formation, which stands as one of the richest horizons in the world in this respect.

Keywords

dinosaurJurassicphylogenyAfrica
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 147 , Issue 6 , November 2010 , pp. 814 - 829
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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