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| Melanorosaurus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Life restoration ofM. readi | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Family: | †Melanorosauridae |
| Genus: | †Melanorosaurus Haughton, 1924 |
| Type species | |
| †Melanorosaurus readi Haughton, 1924 | |
Melanorosaurus (meaning "Black Mountain Lizard", from theGreekmelas/μέλας, "black",oros/ὄρος, "mountain" +sauros/σαῦρος, "lizard") is agenus ofbasalsauropodomorphdinosaur that lived during theLate Triassic period. Anomnivore[1] fromSouth Africa, it had a large body and sturdy limbs, suggesting it moved quadrupedally. Its limb bones were massive and heavy like the limb bones of truesauropods.
Melanorosaurus had a skull which measured approximately 250 mm. The snout was somewhat pointed, and the skull was somewhat triangular when seen from above or below. Thepremaxilla had four teeth on each side, a characteristic of primitive sauropodomorphs. Themaxilla had 19 teeth on each side of the jaw.[2]
Melanorosaurus was around 8 metres (26 ft) long, with a weight of 1.3 metric tons (1.3 long tons).[3]
Thetype specimens,syntypes SAM 3449 and SAM 3450, were discovered, described and named in 1924 bySidney H. Haughton. They were collected from the Triassic LowerElliot Formation, dating to the earlyNorian, on the north slope of the Thaba 'Nyama (Black Mountain) inTranskei, South Africa.[4] The first complete skull referred toMelanorosaurus, NM QR3314, was described in 2007.[2] However, this specimen comes from the Upper Elliot, unlike theMelanorosaurus type material and NM QR1551, rendering its referral to the genus untenable.[5]
Melanorosaurus thabanensis was named in 1993 by Gauffre, based onholotype MNHN LES-16, afemur found in the Upper Triassic lower Elliot Formation.[6] However, a recent review of the material demonstrated that the femur, along with six other bones, can't be referred to the genusMelanorosaurus, and a new combination (Meroktenos thabanensis) was created.[7]
Melanorosaurus was once classified as aprosauropod, but Prosauropoda no longer appears to be a natural group. According to some definitions ofSauropoda,Melanorosaurus is an early sauropod. However, these definitions also take in many other former "prosauropods", and Adam Yates has proposed a definition of Sauropoda that will specifically excludeMelanorosaurus (Sauropoda as all sauropodomorphs closer toSaltasaurus thanMelanorosaurus). This definition would allow Sauropoda to retain its traditional concept.[8]
The following cladogram shows the position ofMelanorosaurus within Massopoda, according to Oliver W. M. Rauhut and colleagues, 2020:[9]
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