Gyposaurus (meaning "vulture lizard", referring to the outdated hypothesis that prosauropods were carnivores) is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the early Jurassic of South Africa. It is usually considered to represent juveniles of other prosauropods, but "G." sinensis is regarded as a possibly valid species in recent reviews of the prosauropods (Galton and Upchurch, 2004).[1]

Temporal range: Early Jurassic, 196.5–189.6 Ma
"Gyposaurus" sinensis-Geological Museum of China
G. sinensis fossil on display at the Geological Museum of China
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Clade: Plateosauria
Genus: Gyposaurus
Broom, 1911
Type species
Gyposaurus capensis
(Broom, 1911)
Other species
  • Gyposaurus sinensis (Yang, 1941)


Restoration outline of Gyposaurus sinensis

G. capensis was named in 1911 by Scottish physician and paleontologist Robert Broom from a partial skeleton consisting of eleven dorsal and six caudal vertebrae, ribs, gastralia, partial right scapula, right pelvic girdle, left ilium, and most of the right leg, discovered in the Upper Elliot Formation of Orange Free State, South Africa.[2] Originally, he thought it pertained to the dubious genus Hortalotarsus.[2] Galton and Cluver synonymized it with Anchisaurus in 1976,[3] but Michael Cooper synonymized it with Massospondylus in 1981,[4] which has been generally accepted.

"Gyposaurus" sinensis-Paleozoological Museum of China
Holotype maxilla of G. sinensis, Paleozoological Museum of China

G. sinensis was named by Yang Zhongjian (C.C. Young) in 1940 from most of a skeleton with a partial skull found in the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation, Yunnan Province, China, and referred over a dozen other specimens to it.[5] Galton in 1976 referred it to Lufengosaurus as a juvenile version,[6] but Dong Zhiming referred it to Anchisaurus in 1992.[7] As mentioned, in the most recent review, Galton and Upchurch (2004) consider it as probably a valid, distinct taxon, in need of a new generic name.[1] Unpublished results of a presentation by Wang and colleagues at the SVP 2017 conference indicate that G. sinensis is a junior synonym of Lufengosaurus huenei, however, while the referred specimens IVPP V43, V45, and V95 need further investigation.[8]


  1. ^ a b Galton, P.M., and Upchurch, P. (2004). Prosauropoda. In: D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, & H. Osmólska (eds.), The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press:Berkeley, 232-258. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
  2. ^ a b Broom, R. (1911). On the dinosaurs of the Stormberg, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 7(4):291-308.
  3. ^ Galton, P.M., and Cluver, M.A. (1976). Anchisaurus capensis (Broom) and a revision of the Anchisauridae (Reptilia, Saurischia). Annals of the South African Museum 69(6):121-159.
  4. ^ Cooper, M.R. (1981). The prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus Owen from Zimbabwe: its biology, mode of life and phylogenetic significance. Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, Series B, Natural Sciences 6(10):689-840.
  5. ^ Z. Yang. 1940. Preliminary notes on the Lufeng vertebrate fossils. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 20(3-4):235-239.
  6. ^ Galton, P.M. (1976). Prosauropod dinosaurs (Reptilia: Saurischia) of North America. Postilla 169:1-98.
  7. ^ Z. Dong. (1992). Dinosaurian Faunas of China. China Ocean Press:Beijing, 1-188. ISBN 0-387-52084-8
  8. ^








Haya griva

Haya is an extinct genus of basal neornithischian dinosaur known from Mongolia.






Leonerasaurus is a basal genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur. Currently, there is only one species known, named L. taquetrensis by Diego Pol, Alberto Garrido and Ignacio A. Cerda in 2011. The fossil, an incomplete subadult individual, was found in the Las Leoneras Formation in Argentina. This formation is probably Early Jurassic in age. Leonerasaurus was a small non-sauropod sauropodomorph, showing an unusual combination of basal and derived characters. This indicates that the evolution of early sauropodomorphs witnessed a great degree of convergent evolution.

Lower Lufeng Series

The Lower Lufeng Series (or Lower Lufeng Formation) is a Lower Jurassic sedimentary rock formation found in Yunnan, China. It has two units: the lower Dull Purplish Beds/Shawan Member are of Hettangian age, and Dark Red Beds/Zhangjia'ao Member are of Sinemurian age. It is known for its fossils of early dinosaurs. The Dull Purplish Beds have yielded the possible therizinosaur Eshanosaurus, the possible theropod Lukousaurus, and the "prosauropods" "Gyposaurus" sinensis, Lufengosaurus, Jingshanosaurus, and Yunnanosaurus. Dinosaurs discovered in the Dark Red Beds include the theropod Sinosaurus triassicus, the "prosauropods" "Gyposaurus", Lufengosaurus, and Yunnanosaurus, indeterminate remains of sauropods, and the early armored dinosaurs Bienosaurus and Tatisaurus.


Lufengosaurus (Chinese: 祿豐龍 or 禄丰龙, meaning "Lufeng lizard") is a genus of massospondylid dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now southwestern China. The dinosaur made international headlines in 2017 when Nature Communications reported scientists' discovery of 195-million-year-old collagen protein in the rib of a Lufengosarus fossil.


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Powellvenator is an extinct genus of coelophysoid theropod dinosaur that lived during the latter part of the Triassic Period in what is now northwestern Argentina. Fossils of the dinosaur were found in the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin. The type species, Powellvenator podocitus, was named by Martin Ezcurra in 2017.


Riojasauridae is a family of sauropod-like dinosaurs from the Upper Triassic. It is known primarily from the genera Riojasaurus and Eucnemesaurus. Sites containing Riojasauridae include the Lower Elliot Formation of Orange Free State, South Africa (where fossils of Eucnemesaurus have been found), and Ischigualasto, in La Rioja Province, Argentina ( where fossils of Riojasaurus have been recovered).


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Xixiposaurus is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur which existed in what is now Lower Lufeng Formation, China during the lower Jurassic period. It was first named by Sekiya Toru in 2010 and the type species is Xixiposaurus suni.


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