Vulcanodon

Taxobox
name = "Vulcanodon"


image_width=240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Sauropodomorpha
infraordo = Sauropoda
familia = Vulcanodontidae
genus = "Vulcanodon"
genus_authority = Raath, 1972
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"V. karibaensis" Raath, 1972 (type)

"Vulcanodon" (meaning "volcano tooth") was a relatively small, early sauropod dinosaur genus from the Early Jurassic. It was about 6.5 meters (20 ft) long. "Vulcanodon" ate plants and lived in southern Africa. The type species, "V. karibaensis", was formally described by Michael A. Raath of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1972. It was originally believed to be a prosauropod because of the knife shaped teeth found near its fossils, which fit in with the idea that prosauropods were omnivorous, but scientists now know that the teeth belonged to an unidentified theropod that scavenged on the "Vulcanodon"'s carcass.

References

* [http://www.dinoruss.com/de_4/5a6c17b.htm "Vulcanodon" in the Dinosaur Encyclopaedia] at Dino Russ's Lair