[D] Eoraptor lunensis [Su] [sG] [T]
Describer
Sereno, Forster, Rogers & Monetta, 1993
Time
Triassic Late Carnian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda
Diet
Carnivore
Fossilsite
Ischigualasto Formation, Valley of the Moon, Ischigualsto-Villa Union Basin, northwest Argentina
Length
1 meter
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Found in 1991. Bidepal carnivore not bigger than a dog. An early theropode even more primitive than Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis. Scientist believe that Eoraptor was an ancestor of the dinosaurs. Weight 10 kg.
Eoraptor (Sereno et al. , 1993) is a lightweight animal 1 m long, with a number of dinosaurian characters: the postfrontal is absent, there are three vertebrae in the sacrum, the deltopectoral crest runs a long way down the shaft of the humerus, the femur is modified for fully erect posture, and there are various dinosaurian characters in the ankle, including an ascending process on the astragalus. (Benton, 2006)
Both Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus were initially classed (Sereno and Novas, 1992; Sereno et al. , 1993) as basal theropods, although they may turn out either to be basal saurischians or even basal dinosaurs (Langer et al ., 1999).
Sereno, Forster, Rogers & Monetta, 1993
Time
Triassic Late Carnian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda
Diet
Carnivore
Fossilsite
Ischigualasto Formation, Valley of the Moon, Ischigualsto-Villa Union Basin, northwest Argentina
Length
1 meter
Info
Genus - Typespecies - Skull
Found in 1991. Bidepal carnivore not bigger than a dog. An early theropode even more primitive than Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis. Scientist believe that Eoraptor was an ancestor of the dinosaurs. Weight 10 kg.
Eoraptor (Sereno et al. , 1993) is a lightweight animal 1 m long, with a number of dinosaurian characters: the postfrontal is absent, there are three vertebrae in the sacrum, the deltopectoral crest runs a long way down the shaft of the humerus, the femur is modified for fully erect posture, and there are various dinosaurian characters in the ankle, including an ascending process on the astragalus. (Benton, 2006)
Both Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus were initially classed (Sereno and Novas, 1992; Sereno et al. , 1993) as basal theropods, although they may turn out either to be basal saurischians or even basal dinosaurs (Langer et al ., 1999).