Tuesday, December 15, 2015

The Giving of December. Glacialisaurus

Glacialisaurus is the first genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur known from Antarctica.‭ ‬Though only known from a few hind limb bones,‭ ‬these are enough to identify Glacialisaurus as a massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur,‭ ‬as well as possible close relative of Lufengosaurus from China.
       From the same fossil formation that the Glacialisaurus holotype remains are known from,‭ ‬the fossils of sauropod dinosaurs are also known.‭ ‬This is a clear indicator that the sauropod dinosaurs did not replace the earlier sauropodomorphs overnight,‭ ‬and that‭ ‬the sauropods and sauropodomorph dinosaurs co-existed together for quite some time.‭ ‬Predatory threats to Glacialisaurus potentially include‭ ‬Cryolophosaurus,‭ ‬a meat-eating theropod dinosaur that is known from the same Hanson Formation that Glacialisaurus is known from.

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