Efraasia

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Efraasia (pronounced "E-FRAHS-ee-A") was a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur. It was a herbivore which lived during the Late Triassic, in what is now Germany. It is named after Eberhard Fraas, its discoverer.

[edit] Classification and history

The fossils of Efraasia have been misidentified at least four times. Originally the fossils that would become known as Efraasia were mixed in with an unrelated Rausiuchian. The mixed-up fossils were named Teratosaurus by Friedrich von Huene in 1908, and when the mistake was discovered by Eberhard Fraas, the Rausiuchian portions inherited the Teratosaurus name. Fraas actually considered Efraasia to be synonymous with another dinosaur, Thecodontosaurus. In 1932 it was identified as Palaeosaurus.

By 1984, it was thought the remaining fossils were actually portions of a juvenile Sellosaurus, but eighteen years later, were finally identified as a separate genus. The name Efraasia was given to these fossils. Some internet sites still confuse the two genera. Efraasia was once thought to be a relatively small dinosaur, but this was because the known fossils were from a juvenile animal. Efraasia attained a length of 6 meters in adulthood.

Efraasia is a primitive Sauropodomorph, somewhat more advanced than Thecodontosaurus, but less advanced than Plateosaurus. Like many prosauropods, Efraasia might have been partially bipedal and partly quadrupedal.

The type species is E. minor.

[edit] References

• http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/330Sauropodomorpha/330.100.html
• http://www.users.qwest.net/~jstweet1/sauropodomorpha.htm
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/Paleontologists.shtml
• http://www.cooldino.com/subjects/dinosaurs/glossary/indexe.shtml
• http://www.users.qwest.net/~jstweet1/dinoef.htm