Hortalotarsus (etymology uncertain; probably "tarsus of a young bird"?[1]) is a dubious genus of extinct sauropodomorph from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian-aged) Clarens Formation of Eagle's Crag, South Africa.[2][3]
| Hortalotarsus Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
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| Preserved portion of the holotype drawn before being partially destroyed by blasting | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Bagualosauria |
| Clade: | †Plateosauria |
| Clade: | †Massopoda |
| Family: | †Massospondylidae |
| Genus: | †Hortalotarsus Seeley, 1894 |
| Type species | |
| †Hortalotarsus skirtopodus Seeley, 1894
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| Synonyms | |
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Discovery and naming
editThe type species, Hortalotarsus skirtopodus was named by Harry Seeley in 1894, initially as a species of Thecodontosaurus.[4] The holotype is AM 455,[5] consisting today of only a tibia, fibula and phalanges, although more of the skeleton was initially present, including ribs, possible vertebrae, a possible ilium, a possible femur, a possible scapula and a possible humerus,[4][6] which was discovered by William Horner Wallace on 11 July 1888 in Eagle's Crag, Barkly East.[7]
According to Robert Broom (1911), "Originally most of the skeleton was in the rock, and it was regarded by the farmers as the skeleton of a Bushman, but it is said to have been destroyed through fear that a Bushman skeleton in the rock might tend to weaken the religious belief of the rising generation."[6] Seeley however, states that most of the skeleton was lost by a failed attempt to free it from the rock by using gunpowder.[4] Some partial leg bones were salvaged.[8]
Description
editHortalotarsus would have been similar to Massospondylus,[8] reaching around 3 metres (9.8 ft) long when fully grown.
Classification
editHortalotarsus was subsequently regarded as either a synonym of Massospondylus[5] or a valid genus belonging to Anchisauridae.[9][10] Galton and Cluver (1976) as well as Galton and Upchurch (2004), however, designated this genus a nomen dubium.[8][11]
Today, Hortalotarsus is classified as a member of the Massospondylidae.[8]
Gallery
editReferences
edit- ^ "What does Hortalotarsus mean in Latin or Greek?". 28 June 2016.
- ^ Chapelle, Kimberley E. J.; Barrett, Paul M.; Botha, Jennifer; Choiniere, Jonah N. (August 5, 2019). "Ngwevu intloko: a new early sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa and comments on cranial ontogeny in Massospondylus carinatus". PeerJ. 7: e7240. doi:10.7717/peerj.7240. PMC 6687053. PMID 31403001.
- ^ Müller, Rodrigo Temp (2019). "Craniomandibular osteology of Macrocollum itaquii (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (10): 805–841. doi:10.1080/14772019.2019.1683902. S2CID 209575985.
- ^ a b c Seeley, H.G. (1894). "LIII.—On Hortalotarsus skirtopodus, a new Saurischian fossil from Barkly East, Cape Colony". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6. 14 (84): 411–419. doi:10.1080/00222939408677828.
- ^ a b M. R. Cooper. (1981). The prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus Owen from Zimbabwe: its biology, mode of life and phylogenetic significance. Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, Series B, Natural Sciences 6(10):689-840
- ^ a b Broom R. (1911). On the dinosaurs of the Stormberg, South Africa. Annals of the South African Museum 7:291-308.
- ^ H. G. Seeley. (1892). Contribution to a knowledge of the Saurischia of Europe and Africa. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 48:188-191
- ^ a b c d P. M. Galton and P. Upchurch. (2004). Prosauropoda. In D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, and H. Osmolska (eds.), The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 232-258.
- ^ B. F. Nopcsa. (1928). The genera of reptiles. Palaeobiologica 1:163-188.
- ^ R. Steel. (1970). Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1-87
- ^ P. M. Galton and M. A. Cluver. (1976). Anchisaurus capensis (Broom) and a revision of the Anchisauridae (Reptilia, Saurischia). Annals of the South African Museum 69(6):121-159
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