Gigantoscelus Explained

Gigantoscelus ("giant shin") is a dubious genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa.

Classification

It was first described by van Hoepen in 1916 on the basis of TrM 65, a distal femur from the Bushveld Sandstone Formation of South Africa.^[1] It was later synonymized with Euskelosaurus by van Heerden (1979),^[2] but was subsequently treated as a nomen dubium in the 2nd edition of the Dinosauria.^[3]

Stratigraphy

The type horizon of Gigantoscelus, the Bushveld Sandstone, was thought to be Late Triassic, but is now considered Early Jurassic (Hettangian-Sinemurian) in age.^[4]

Notes and References

1. E. C. N. Van Hoepen. 1916. De ouderdom der Transvaalsche Karroolagen [The age of the Transvaal Karoo beds]. Verhandelingen van het Geologisch-Mijnbouwkundig Genootschap voor Nederland en Koloniën. Geologische Serie 3:107-117.
2. J. v. Heerden. 1979. The morphology and taxonomy of Euskelosaurus (Reptilia: Saurischia; Late Triassic) from South Africa. Navorsinge van die Nasionale Museum 4(2):23-84
3. P. M. Galton and P. Upchurch. 2004. Prosauropoda. In D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, and H. Osmolska (eds.), The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 232-258.
4. Smith RMH, Eriksson PG, Botha WJ. A Review of the Stratigraphy and Sedimentary Environments of the Karoo-Aged Basins of Southern Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences. 1993;16:143–169. .