#eoraptor lunensis

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Hylaeosaurus Armatus

Eoraptor Lunensis

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Eoraptor lunensis sketches, 6th July 2016

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Skeleton of Eoraptor

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Eoraptor lunensis

By Rebecca Groom on @palaeoplushies

Name: Eoraptor lunensis

Name Meaning: Dawn thief from the Valley of the Moon 

First Described: 1993 

Discribed by: Sereno et. al. 

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia 

Eoraptor is one of the earliest known genera of true dinosaurs. It was a two legged Saurichian, a medium-sized carnivore, or potentially omnivore, from approximately 231.4 million years ago (in the late Triassic period, during the Carnian age.) It was found among many other early dinosaurs such as Herrerasaurus. Eoraptor is known from a complete skeleton that is lacking only the tail, and in shape and size Eoraptor is what the typical primitive dinosaur should look like. It lacks the specialized features of many major dinosaur groups. However, its three-fingered hand suggests a closer relationship to many theropod dinosaurs. It was a predatory dinosaur, inhabiting what is now northwestern Argentina. It was small and slender, built for fast sprinting to capture smaller prey (as it did not have the sliding jaw of later predatory dinosaurs.) It was also potentially an omnivore, emphasizing its potential to be closely related to the root of the dinosaurian family. It lived in a volcanically active floodplain covered in forests, which was warm and humid, and it lived amongst many other early dinosaurs, making Argentina the cradle of early dinosaur evolution. 

Sources: 

Weishampel, D. B. (2007). The dinosauria(2nd ed.). Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.

Dixon, D. (2007). The Complete Book of Dinosaurs. London, England: Anness Publishing.

http://www.geosociety.org/science/timescale/

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/eoraptor.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eoraptor

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Dinosaur of the Day: Eoraptor lunensis by Teratophoneus

Eoraptor Clade: Eusaurichia Time: Triassic Location: Argentina Size (length): 1m (3ft)