Page 57 - DINOSOUR ATLAS

africa
Southern Africa

:)-"!"7% AfricA’s most Ancient dinosAurs are found in the south
of the continent. Here, in the Early Jurassic, about
200 million years ago, herds of tiny Lesothosaurus
0RETORIA lived alongside the first of the giant plant-eaters,
.!-)")!
*OHANNESBURG
37!:),!.$ such as Massospondylus and Vulcanodon. This warm and
3 / 5 4 ( dry region was also home to small lizards and early
0SBOHF ,%3/4(/ mammals, and hunting them
! & 2 ) # ! ).$)!. /#%!. was the carnivore Syntarsus—
!4,!.4)# /#%!.
#APE 4OWN a fierce predator of this
semidesert environment.
u Site location
Dinosaurs of southern Africa have been found
in several countries, including South Africa,
Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Flying creatures would have
been eaten by Syntarsus, and
it might also have attacked
the area’s large herbivores

did you know?

. Syntarsus was named in 1969, but in
2001 it was found that the name was
already in use—for a beetle. So a new
name was proposed (Megapnosaurus).
But paleontologists didn’t like the name,
and both names are now used for it.

MeGaZoStroDon
An early mammal, the shrewlike
Megazostrodon hunted at night for
insects. If it came out in the day, it
was in danger of being eaten itself.

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