Eoraptor is a genus of small, lightly built, basal sauropodomorph. One of the earliest-known dinosaurs and one of the earliest members of the sauropod family, it lived approximately 231 to 228 million years ago, during the Late Triassic in Western Gondwana, in the region that is now northwestern Argentina. The type and only species, Eoraptor lunensis, was first described in 1993, and is known from an almost complete and well-preserved skeleton and several fragmentary ones. Eoraptor had multiple tooth shapes, which suggests that it was omnivorous.
Sauropodomorpha is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had long necks and tails, were quadrupedal, and became the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. The prosauropods, which preceded the sauropods, were smaller and were often able to walk on two legs. The sauropodomorphs were the dominant terrestrial herbivores throughout much of the Mesozoic Era, from their origins in the Late Triassic until their decline and extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.
Unaysaurus is a genus of unaysaurid sauropodomorph herbivore dinosaur. Discovered in southern Brazil, in the geopark of Paleorrota, in 1998, and announced in a press conference on Thursday, December 3, 2004, it is one of the oldest dinosaurs known. It is closely related to plateosaurid dinosaurs found in Germany, which indicates that it was relatively easy for species to spread across the giant landmass of the time, the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Saturnalia is an extinct genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur known from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.
Herrerasauridae is a family of carnivorous dinosaurs, possibly basal to either theropods or even all of saurischians, or even their own branching from Dracohors, separate from Dinosauria altogether. They are among the oldest known dinosaurs, first appearing in the fossil record around 233.23 million years ago, before becoming extinct by the end of the Carnian stage. Herrerasaurids were relatively small-sized dinosaurs, normally no more than 4 metres (13 ft) long, although the holotype specimen of "Frenguellisaurus ischigualastensis" is thought to have reached around 6 meters long. The best known representatives of this group are from South America, where they were first discovered in the 1930s in relation to Staurikosaurus and 1960s in relation to Herrerasaurus. A nearly complete skeleton of Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis was discovered in the Ischigualasto Formation in San Juan, Argentina, in 1988. Less complete possible herrerasaurids have been found in North America, and they may have inhabited other continents as well.
Herrerasaurus is a genus of saurischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic period. This genus was one of the earliest dinosaurs from the fossil record. Its name means "Herrera's lizard", after the rancher who discovered the first specimen in 1958 in South America. All known fossils of this carnivore have been discovered in the Ischigualasto Formation of Carnian age in northwestern Argentina. The type species, Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, was described by Osvaldo Reig in 1963 and is the only species assigned to the genus. Ischisaurus and Frenguellisaurus are synonyms.
Saurischia is one of the two basic divisions of dinosaurs, classified by their hip structure. Saurischia and Ornithischia were originally called orders by Harry Seeley in 1888 though today most paleontologists classify Saurischia as an unranked clade rather than an order.
Guaibasauridae is a family of basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, known from fossil remains of late Triassic period formations in Brazil and Argentina.
The Caturrita Formation is a rock formation found in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its sediments were deposited in the Paraná Basin. The formation is from the Upper Triassic and forms part of the Santa Maria Supersequence in the upper section of the Rosário do Sul Group.
Glacialisaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Pliensbachian stage of the Early Jurassic period around 186 to 182 million years ago in what is now the central region of the Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. It is known from two specimens; the holotype, a partial tarsus (ankle) and metatarsus, and a partial left femur. The fossils were collected by a team led by paleontologist William R. Hammer during a 1990–91 field expedition to the Hanson Formation of Antarctica. They were described in 2007, and made the basis of the new genus and species Glacialisaurus hammeri. The genus name translates as “icy” or "frozen lizard”, and the species name honors Hammer.
Riograndia is an extinct genus of tritheledontid cynodonts from the Late Triassic of South America. The type and only species is Riograndia guaibensis. Remains have been found in the Caturrita Formation of the geopark of Paleorrota. It was a small non-mammalian cynodont, with several advanced features also present in mammals. Several specimens of Riograndia guaibensis have been found in the towns of Candelária and Faxinal do Soturno in the Caturrita Formation. The genus defines the Riograndia Assemblage Zone.
Panphagia is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur described in 2009. It lived around 231 million years ago, during the Carnian age of the Late Triassic period in what is now northwestern Argentina. Fossils of the genus were found in the La Peña Member of the Ischigualasto Formation in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin. The name Panphagia comes from the Greek words pan, meaning "all", and phagein, meaning "to eat", in reference to its inferred omnivorous diet. Panphagia is one of the earliest known dinosaurs, and is an important find which may mark the transition of diet in early sauropodomorph dinosaurs.
Phytodinosauria is a group of dinosaurs proposed in 1986, combining the Sauropodomorpha and Ornithischia as sister groups, conceptualized as a superorder of herbivorous dinosaurs excluding the carnivorous Theropoda. This hypothesis has been refuted by modern cladistic analysis, showing such a group to be polyphyletic. Modern studies either combine the Theropoda and Sauropodormorpha in the Saurischia or the Theropoda and Ornithischia in the Ornithoscelida.
Saturnaliidae is a family of basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs found in Brazil, Argentina and possibly Zimbabwe. It is not to be confused with Saturnalidae, a family of radiolarian protists.
Pampadromaeus is an extinct genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs known from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Santa Maria Formation of the Paraná Basin in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.
Buriolestes is a genus of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation of the Paraná Basin in southern Brazil. It contains a single species, B. schultzi, named in 2016. The type specimen was found alongside a specimen of the lagerpetid dinosauromorph Ixalerpeton.
Bagualosaurus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Candelária Sequence of Brazil, dating to around 230 million years ago in the Carnian of the Late Triassic. It includes one species, Bagualosaurus agudoensis.
Macrocollum is a genus of unaysaurid sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic period in what is now Brazil. It is one of the oldest dinosaurs known.
Nhandumirim is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Carnian age of Late Triassic Brazil. It is currently considered a saturnaliid sauropodomorph. The type and only species, Nhandumirim waldsangae, is known from a single immature specimen including vertebrae, a chevron, pelvic material, and a hindlimb found in the Santa Maria Formation in Rio Grande do Sul.
Gnathovorax is a genus of herrerasaurid saurischian dinosaur from the Santa Maria Formation in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The type and only species is Gnathovorax cabreirai, described by Pacheco et al. in 2019.
