Herrerasaurus

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FACT SHEET: herrerasaurus NAME: HERRERASAURUS (huh-RARE-uh-SAW-rus), meaning: "Herrera's lizard" SIZE: 13 feet long (the size of a minivan), 460 pounds TYPE OF DIET: Carnivore (lizards, fish and smaller dinsoaurs) WHEN: Mid Triassic period (230 million years ago) WHERE: Argentina, South America Herrerasaurus is one of the oldest known dinosaurs. It lived about 230 million years ago. It was a theropod dinosaur, meaning that it ate meat and ran on its back legs. It would also walk on all four legs when it was looking for food on the ground. It was probably a fast runner; we know this by studying its trackways, or footprints. Herrerasaurus grew to be 13 feet long, which is about the size of a minivan. It was about four feet high and weighed about 460 pounds. This dinosaur was a carnivore, meaning that it ate meat. It would eat lizards and fish and other smaller dinosaurs. It was probably a deadly hunter. Its teeth were sharp and had jagged edges, like small saws. Herrerasaurus had an unusual joint in its jaw. This allowed it to open its mouth very wide. Herrerasaurus had hands with five fingers and a thumb, like we have. But its fifth finger was probably too small to be seen. Its hands were very useful for grabbing things. It had short arms and sharp, curved claws on its fingers. We believe that it hunted alone, since its bones have not been found together with other Herrerasaurus skeletons. The fossilized bones of this dinosaur were found by a goat farmer named Don Victorino Herrera. Herrerasaurus means “Herrera’s lizard”, named for the farmer who discovered it. Herrerasaurus was first found in northwestern South America, in what is now the country of Argentina. Dinosaur Days TM © 2010 Distant Train, inc. (www.distanttrain.com) all rights reserved.

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The Origin and Early Evolution of Dinosaurs
Biol. Rev. (2010), 85, pp. 55–110. 55 doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00094.x The origin and early evolution of dinosaurs Max C. Langer1∗,MartinD.Ezcurra2, Jonathas S. Bittencourt1 and Fernando E. Novas2,3 1Departamento de Biologia, FFCLRP, Universidade de São Paulo; Av. Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirão Preto-SP, Brazil 2Laboratorio de Anatomia Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘‘Bernardino Rivadavia’’, Avda. Angel Gallardo 470, Cdad. de Buenos Aires, Argentina 3CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cient´ıficas y Técnicas); Avda. Rivadavia 1917 - Cdad. de Buenos Aires, Argentina (Received 28 November 2008; revised 09 July 2009; accepted 14 July 2009) ABSTRACT The oldest unequivocal records of Dinosauria were unearthed from Late Triassic rocks (approximately 230 Ma) accumulated over extensional rift basins in southwestern Pangea. The better known of these are Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, Pisanosaurus mertii, Eoraptor lunensis,andPanphagia protos from the Ischigualasto Formation, Argentina, and Staurikosaurus pricei and Saturnalia tupiniquim from the Santa Maria Formation, Brazil. No uncontroversial dinosaur body fossils are known from older strata, but the Middle Triassic origin of the lineage may be inferred from both the footprint record and its sister-group relation to Ladinian basal dinosauromorphs. These include the typical Marasuchus lilloensis, more basal forms such as Lagerpeton and Dromomeron, as well as silesaurids: a possibly monophyletic group composed of Mid-Late Triassic forms that may represent immediate sister taxa to dinosaurs. The first phylogenetic definition to fit the current understanding of Dinosauria as a node-based taxon solely composed of mutually exclusive Saurischia and Ornithischia was given as ‘‘all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of birds and Triceratops’’.
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