Camelotia
| Camelotia borealis Temporal range: Late Triassic-Early Jurassic | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Femur | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Family: | †Melanorosauridae |
| Genus: | †Camelotia |
| Species: | †C. borealis |
| Binomial name | |
| Camelotia borealis Galton, 1985 | |
Camelotia (meaning "from Camelot") was a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic tp the Early Jurassic , from the Rhaetian stage of the Late Triassic to Hettangian stage of the Early Jurassic, what is now England. Paleontologists are divided on which family it may belong to;[1] in the past, Camelotia has generally been assigned to the prosauropods, but this group of primitive dinosaurs is in constant flux. The genus is now considered a member of the family Melanorosauridae, who includes the first true giant hervivorous dinosaurs.
Discovery and species
The type specimens, syntypes "BMNH R2870-R2874" and "R2876-R2878" (holotype), were described and named in 1985 by Galton. They were collected from the Triassic-Jurassic Westbury Formation, dating to the latest Rhaetian. The fossils includes vertebrae, ribs and parts of pubis, ischium and hind limb. The type species, C. borealis, was first described by Galton in 1985. Dinosaurs formerly known as Avalonianus and Gresslyosaurus turned out to be Camelotia.
Description
From the fragmentary remains of Camelotia, part of the skeleton can be reconstructed. Camelotia, as relatives such as Melanorosaurus, had a short neck supporting a fairly large skull with small eyes. Its jaws contained many small- to medium-sized, serrated, leaf-shaped teeth. This dinosaur's hands and feet each had five digits, and the hands were long and rather narrow, with an extended claw on each. This dinosaur's front limbs were larger than the legs, relative in the evolution with the upcoming Sauropda members. On average, it was 11 metres (36 ft) long, 4 metres (160 in) or 1 ft. tall, and weighed 10 metric tons (22,000 lb). The largest individuals had an estimated length of 12 metres (39 ft).
References
- P. M. Galton. 1985. Notes on the Melanorosauridae, a family of large prosauropod dinosaurs (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha). Géobios 18(5):671-676.