Topic
Blikanasaurus
About: Blikanasaurus is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5 publications have been published within this topic receiving 180 citations.
Papers
1 Jan 2007
TL;DR: The most parsimonious trees suggest that Efraasia, Mussaurus, Thecodontosaurus and Saturnalia are increasingly more distant sister-taxa to the remaining sauropodomorphs, while character mapping indicates several apomorphic features that support the monophyly of a plateosaurian clade or subgroups within it.
Abstract: New discoveries, revision of existing taxa and the application of cladistic analysis have all shed light on the relationships of basal sauropodomorphs. Nevertheless, the interrelationships proposed in recent studies have varied widely, with some authors advocating the view that Prosauropoda and Sauropoda are monophyletic sister-taxa, whereas others favour an extreme form of prosauropod paraphyly with respect to sauropods. A data set comprising 292 characters for seven outgroups and 27 ingroup sauropodomorph taxa is presented and analysed. The most parsimonious trees suggest that Efraasia, Mussaurus, Thecodontosaurus and Saturnalia are increasingly more distant sister-taxa to the remaining sauropodomorphs. The latter are divided into two monophyletic sister-groups: a plateosaurian clade containing Plateosaurus, Lufengosaurus, Massospondylus, Coloradisaurus and others, and a sauropod clade, which includes melanorosaurs (near its base), Antetonitrus, Chinshakiangosaurus, Vulcanodon, Barapasaurus and eusauropods. Bootstrap values and constrained analyses with Templeton's tests indicate that support for many of the proposed relationships is relatively weak. This results from the inclusion of poorly known taxa, such as Blikanasaurus, and from considerable levels of character conflict. Character mapping indicates several apomorphic features that support the monophyly of a plateosaurian clade or subgroups within it. In addition, it appears that approximately 20 apomorphies are acquired early in basal sauropodomorph evolution, but are reversed to the plesiomorphic state in basal sauropods and eusauropods. Aside from their impact on phylogenetic uncertainty, these reversals may reflect important aspects of early sauropod evolution that relate to shifts in the ecological niches occupied by these taxa.
105 citations
TL;DR: The holotype of the prosauropod dinosaur Blikanasaurus cromptoni n. gen. and n. sp., a partial hindlimb, is described from the lower Elliot Formation as discussed by the authors.
46 citations
1 Jan 2003
TL;DR: The systematic position of all commonly accepted sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Lower Elliott Formation of South Africa is reviewed and it is found that none can be positively identified as prosauropod.
Abstract: A new sauropodomorph dinosaur specimen is described and identified as a prosauropod. It is tentatively placed as the sister taxon of Riojasaurus incertus from Argentina. The systematic position of all commonly accepted sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Lower Elliott Formation of South Africa is reviewed and it is found that none can be positively identified as prosauropod. Euskelosaurus browni is a nomen dubium based on material that cannot be identified further than Sauropodomorpha. Blikanasaurus cromptoni and Antetonitrus ingenipes are basal sauropods. Melanorosaurus readi is probably another basal sauropod but opinion remains divided. Plateosauravus cullingworthi presents conflicting character data and at present is classified as Sauropodomorpha incertae sedis. Consequently the specimen described here represents the only prosauropod specimen currently recognized in the Lower Elliot Formation of South Africa.
41 citations
1 Apr 2008
TL;DR: A second specimen of the rare basal sauropod Blikanasaurus cromptoni, recorded from a site in the Ladybrand district of the Eastern Free State, South Africa, is recorded in this paper.
Abstract: A second specimen of the rare basal sauropod Blikanasaurus cromptoni, is recorded from a site in the Ladybrand district of the Eastern Free State, South Africa. The specimen consists of a right metatarsal 1 that originated from the upper 20 m of the lower Elliot Formation. It can be referred to B. cromptoni on the basis of its small size and highly robust proportions, which distinguish this taxon from all other sauropodomorphs. This record extends the geographic distribution of B. cromptoni north into the region of the main Karoo Basin where the Elliot Formation is dramatically thinner. It also extends the known stratigraphic range of B. cromptoni up from the base of the Elliot Formation into a position near the top of the lower member. This new record, combined with other new discoveries, supports the hypothesis that the thin northern part of the lower Elliot Formation is a condensed section that is largely, if not entirely, coeval with the thicker southern sections.
11 citations
1 Jan 2004
TL;DR: A proximal caudal vertebra from the upper Elliot Formation (Early Jurassic) of the main Karoo Basin is identified as a sauropod dinosaur more derived than basal forms such as Antetonitrus and Blikanasaurus from the lower Elliot Formation as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A proximal caudal vertebra from the upper Elliot Formation (Early Jurassic) of the main Karoo Basin is identified as a sauropod dinosaur more derived than basal forms such as Antetonitrus and Blikanasaurus from the lower Elliot Formation (Late Triassic). The caudal displays an ambiguous autapomorphy with the Early– Middle Jurassic Vulcanodon from Zimbabwe and may be closely related to that genus. This is the first record of a sauropod dinosaur from the upper Elliot Formation and indicates that the sauropodomorph fauna of the Massospondylus Range Zone is more diverse than previously appreciated. In particular, it demonstrates that large, robust sauropodomorphs are not restricted to the lower Elliot Formation.
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2004 | 1 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 1985 | 1 |