Glacialsaurus hammeri
7:00 pm
Glacialsaurus restoration from Science Centric
© 2007 William Stout
New Dinosaur: Glacialsaurus hammeri
Name means: Hammer’s Frozen lizard
Relations: Basal sauropodomorph (prosauropod) dinosaur
Location: Beardmore Glacier region, Antarctica
Age: Early Jurassic, 190,000,000 years ago
Material: Partial right foot and ankle, partial left femur
Est. Length: 8 meters (25 ft) long
Est. Weight: 5 tons
Glacialsaurus hammeri is only the second dinosaur described from the Jurassic of Antarctica, the first being the pompadour-crested theropod Cryolophosaurus ellioti. Although fragmentary, the remains of Glacialsaurus identify it as a prosauropod, one of several types of early long-necked dinosaurs that split off from the sauropodomorph line before true sauropods like Apatosaurus and Camarasaurus evolved. Other fossils found in the same rock formation as Glacialsaurus may come from a true sauropod, suggesting that prosauropods survived alongside their more advanced relatives for a time in the Early Jurassic.
Technical article: Smith, N. D. and Pol, D. 2007. Anatomy of a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of Antarctica. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 52 (4): 657–674. PDF.
Elsewhere on the web:
I imagine 8 tons is a little high for a 25-foot long “prosauropod.”