🦖 Dinosaurs🦕 SauropodomorphTriassicWell known
Plateosaurus
Plateosaurus engelhardti
Plateosaurus is one of the best-known early large herbivores and shows precursors of sauropods.
Image: FunkMonk · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Plateosaurus engelhardti
- Period
- Late Triassic (Norian)
- Lived
- 214–204 Ma (214 million years ago)
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Habitat
- Plains, Forest
- Length (estimate)
- 8 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 1,000 kg
Description
Plateosaurus was a large, long-necked sauropodomorph with a long tail and powerful hind legs. Its hands had a large thumb claw, possibly used for defence or loosening plants. Adults could probably move on either two or four legs, but their usual posture is not fully understood. Many skeletons have been found in deposits associated with mudflows or drought.
Habitat
Seasonally dry plains and woodland margins in Europe.
Fossil sites
Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg
Knollenmergel
Cultural profile: Germany →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Plateosaurus