Staurikosaurus

Staurikosaurus (Pronounced "STORE-ee-koh-SAWR-us", "Southern Cross lizard") is a genus of herrerasauriddinosaur from the Late Triassic of Brazil, found in Paleorrota Geopark.

Etymology

Staurikosaurus means "Southern Cross" (after the star constellation visible from the Southern Hemisphere) and "Lizard" (from the Greek work "saurus" meaning lizard), thus "Southern Cross Lizard." The species name pricei is in the honor of Colbert's fellow paleontologist Llewellyn Ivor Price.

Description

Colbert (1970) described Staurikosaurus as a small and agile, bipedal predator.Staurikosaurus lived during the late-Carnian and early-Norian stage, of the late Triassic Period, 225 million years ago - which makes it one of the earliest dinosaurs known. At 2.25 metres (7.4 ft) long, 80 centimetres tall (31 in), and weighing 30 kilograms (66 lb), Staurikosaurus was small in comparison to later theropods like Megalosaurus. The type specimen has long but relatively slender limb bones.

There exists a very incomplete fossil record of Staurikosaurus, consisting of most of the spine, the legs and the large lower jaw. However, dating from such an early period in the dinosaurs' history and being otherwise so primitive, most of Staurikosaurus' other features as being primitive also can be reconstructed. For example, Staurikosaurus is usually depicted with five toes and five fingers - very simple features of an un-specialized dinosaur. However, since the skeletal structure of the legs is known, it can be seen that Staurikosaurus was a quick runner for its size. It also had just two vertebrae joining the pelvis to the spine, a distinctly primitive condition.