Arcusaurus pereirabdalorum

†Arcusaurus pereirabdalorum was a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of the Elliot Formation in South Africa. A slender, lightly built herbivore or omnivore of modest size, it represents the early diversification of prosauropod dinosaurs on the African Gondwana continent. Described in 2011, it coexisted with the first true sauropods in the earliest Jurassic of southern Africa.

Time Period

Jurassic Early Mesozoic Era

Arcusaurus pereirabdalorum lived during the Jurassic Early period of the Mesozoic Era, approximately 201.4 to 174.7 million years ago.

After the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, dinosaurs rapidly diversified and became the dominant land vertebrates. Early sauropods and theropods began to evolve larger body sizes.