The earliest known sauropod dinosaur and the first steps towards sauropod locomotion.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Yates AM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1691423 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The earliest known sauropod dinosaur and the first steps towards sauropod locomotion.
Yates Adam M AM Kitching James W JW
Proceedings. Biological sciences 20030801 1525
A partial dinosaur skeleton from the Upper Triassic (Norian) sediments of South Africa is described and named Antetonitrus ingenipes. It provides the first informative look at a basal sauropod that was beginning to show adaptations towards graviportal quadrupedalism such as an elongated forelimb, a modified femoral architecture, a shortened metatarsus and a changed distribution of weight across the foot. These adaptations allowed the clade to produce the largest-ever terrestrial animals. However ...[more]
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