Page 47 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

EuropE’S fIrST DINoSAurS
taiL, which was held off
the ground when it walked,
was used as a support when
Thecodontosaurus stretched up

, THECoDoNToSAuruS
Discovered in southwest England, Thecodontosaurus
belonged to the prosauropods (an early
plant-eating group of dinosaurs), just like
Plateosaurus, though about a quarter of its
size. Able to walk on its hind legs, as well
as on all fours, Thecodontosaurus may have
used its long thumb claws to hook plants,
then pull them toward its mouth. It had
spoon-shaped cheek teeth with serrated
each foot had four edges, which were ideal for stripping leaves
toes with sharp, from ginkgoes and other Triassic trees.
pointed claws

strong Legs
supported its , LILIENSTErNuS
compact body Partial fossils of this two-legged
and carried it carnivore have been found in
around quickly
France and Germany. Little is
known about it, other than the fact
that it belonged to the ceratosaurs
(a major group of lizard-hipped dinosaurs). As these
were the very first of the flesh-eaters, Liliensternus
was an ancestor of the large carnivores that
appeared in the Jurassic and Cretaceous. It was
probably a major predator of its time.

SELLoSAuruS .
A prosauropod from Germany,
where its incomplete remains
have been found, Sellosaurus was
a lightly built dinosaur. Like
smaLL head
had jaws packed other members of its group, it
with flat-sided could move on two legs or four
leaf-shaped teeth and graze on low-growing plants
as well as tree leaves that
it stretched up to reach.

did you know? fooTprINT .
Trace fossils, such as footprints and
. Thecodontosaurus was discovered in 1834, in a trackways, have been found in the
limestone quarry at Bristol, England. When it Late Triassic rocks of Europe. They
was described in 1836, it became the very first cannot be linked to individual
Triassic dinosaur given a name. Unfortunately, species, but it is thought many
the bones were destroyed when Bristol City belong to carnivores. Triassic
Museum was bombed in World War II. Luckily, meat-eaters are rarely found, so
new bones were found in 1975. footprints are evidence for their
existence and distribution.
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