Melanorosaurus Characteristics

Melanorosaurus measured around 39 feet (12 metres) in length and weighed around 1 ton. It had a large bulky body and sturdy, thick-set limbs that supported its huge size. It was a quadrupedal dinosaur and moved around on all 4 limbs. Like most sauropod vertebrae, its spinal bones had hollows that helped reduce weight. Melanorosaurus had a triangular shaped skull which measured 250 milimetres, small eyes and a snout that pointed outwards. It would have had many peg-like teeth to chew plant material with.

Melanorosaurus was a herbivore. This dinosaur probably used its great size and long neck to eat high growing plants and vegetation. It would have eaten a huge amount of plant material to sustain its massive size.

Melanorosaurus was described in 1924, with fossils having been collected from the Upper Triassic Elliot Formation on the north slope of the Black Mountain in Transkei, South Africa. It was not until 2007 when the first complete skull of Melanorosaurus was described. Two species of Melanorosaurus are known: M. readi, the type species, and M. thabanensis.

Melanorosaurus was named by Haughton in 1924.