Vulcanodon (NEW SPECIES) 1.9 Cretaceous Predators Update

Vulcanodon was one of the earliest and most primitive sauropods, a group of large, long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs. It lived in southern Africa during the Early Jurassic period, about million years ago. Its name means “volcano tooth”, because the first fossils were found near a volcanic lake in Zimbabwe. Vulcanodon was smaller than most later sauropods, measuring about meters (feet) in length and weighing about tons. It had sturdy, column-like legs and a long tail, but its forelimbs were not as short as those of more derived sauropods. No skull or neck bones of Vulcanodon are known, so its head shape and feeding habits are uncertain. However, it probably had a relatively small head with peg-like teeth for stripping leaves from plants. Vulcanodon is classified in the family Vulcanodontidae, along with Tazoudasaurus from Morocco and possibly Zizhongosaurus from China. These dinosaurs represent an early branch of the sauropod evolutionary tree, before they diversified into many different forms and spread across the world.