Gigantoscelus Temporal range:
Early Jurassic,
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | † Sauropodomorpha |
Genus: | † Gigantoscelus |
Species: | †G. molengraaffi
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Binomial name | |
†Gigantoscelus molengraaffi van Hoepen,
1916
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Gigantoscelus ("giant shin") is a dubious genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa.
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]
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]