| Plateosaurus | |
|---|---|
| |
| An artist's illustration of Plateosaurus engelhardti | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Family: | †Plateosauridae |
| Genus: | †Plateosaurus |
| Type species | |
| †Plateosaurus engelhardti von Meyer, 1837 | |
| Referred species | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Plateosaurus was a large prosauropod dating back to late Triassic Europe. One of the bigger members of the prosauropod group, this dinosaur measured roughly twenty-eight feet in length, it was also the biggest dinosaur from the Triassic period. It shared it's environment with non-dinosaurian reptiles like pyhytosaurs, giant amphibian stegocephalians, first pterosaurs and primative theropod such as Liliensternus and Halticosaurus among others.
Plateosaurus was one of the last prosauropod dinosaurs that walked on its hind legs alone. Like other prosauropods it fed on plants, though it might've eaten small invertebrates as well.
It was falsely depicted as living in North America alongside Coelophysis, appearing right at the end and scaring away a flock the Triassic theropods, in the BBC special "Walking with Dinosaurs", not an impractical theory due to the connection of the continents at the time, but still incorrect.
Discovery and history
Description
Classification
Paleobiology
Paleoenvironment
Popular Culture
- Plateosaurus was featured at the end of the first episode of BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs.
- It also appeared in Fantasia.
- Josef Augusta wrote about Plateosaurus in his book "The Vanished World".
- Plateosaurus also appears in the opening scene in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure where it browses from a tree.
Gallery
- See Plateosaurus/Gallery