Dino card No. 1616 of 2,027

Sefapanosaurus

Say it: seh-fah-pah-no-SORE-us

Name means: “cross lizard”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Triassic to Early Jurassic

Sefapanosaurus was a medium-sized, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. It had a special cross-shaped ankle bone that gave it its name. This dinosaur was an early relative of the giant long-necked sauropods.1 2

Lived

227 to 200 million years ago5

Late Triassic to Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

Elliot Formation, Zastron district, Free State, South Africa1 3

Food

Plants3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Sefapanosaurus had a cross-shaped ankle bone called the astragalus, which is why it was named 'cross lizard'.1

Its fossils were first dug up in the late 1930s, but scientists didn't realize it was a new dinosaur until 2015.1

At first, scientists thought the bones belonged to another dinosaur called Aardonyx, but later studies showed they were from a new species.1

Sefapanosaurus lived during the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic, about 200 million years ago.1

It was a 'transitional' dinosaur, meaning it had features of both early bipedal sauropodomorphs and the later giant four-legged sauropods.2

The name Sefapanosaurus comes from the Sesotho word 'sefapano' meaning 'cross' and the Greek word 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.1

Four partial skeletons were found, including parts of the spine, arms, and legs.1

AI-made picture of Sefapanosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Sefapanosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Sefapanosaurus

?What did Sefapanosaurus eat?

Sefapanosaurus was a plant-eating dinosaur. It was an early herbivorous sauropodomorph.1

?When did Sefapanosaurus live?

Sefapanosaurus lived about 200 million years ago, during the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic.1 2

?Where was Sefapanosaurus found?

Its fossils were found in the Elliot Formation in the Zastron district of South Africa, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Lesotho border.1 4

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Sefapanosaurus
Named by: Otero et al. 20155
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Sauropodiformes5
Classification: Sauropodomorpha5
Age of the rocks: 227 to 200 million years (Norian / Hettangian)5
Rock formations: Elliot5
Countries: South Africa5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Sefapanosaurus was named in 2015 by Otero and colleagues based on fossils found in the 1930s near Zastron, South Africa. The remains were originally thought to be from Aardonyx but were later recognized as a new genus.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Sefapanosaurus is related to other early sauropodomorphs and whether it walked on two legs or four.2

Where the facts come from

Sefapanosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
A new basal sauropodiform from South Africa and the phylogenetic relationships of basal sauropodomorphs (ri.conicet.gov.ar)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
New dinosaur from South Africa gets Sesotho name | UCT News (news.uct.ac.za)
Sefapanosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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