Coloradisaurus

Coloradisaurus Temporal range: Late Triassic, Norian–Rhaetian PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	†Sauropodomorpha
Family:	†Massospondylidae
Genus:	†Coloradisaurus Lambert, 1983
Species
†C. brevis (Bonaparte, 1978 [preoccupied by Coloradia Blake, 1863]) (type)

Coloradisaurus (meaning "Colorados [from Los Colorados Formation] lizard") is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Late Triassic period (Norian to Rhaetian stages) in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is known from the holotype PVL 5904, nearly complete skull. It was discovered and collected from the upper section of the Los Colorados Formation. Originally named Coloradia by Jose F. Bonaparte in 1978, this name had already been assigned to a moth, and so the animal was renamed. The genus was first named by David Lambert in 1983 and the type species is Coloradisaurus brevis. It may in fact be an adult specimen of Mussaurus. Cladistic analyses by Yates (2007), Yates et al. (2010, 2011) and Novas et al. (2011) found that Coloradisaurus is basal to the Glacialisaurus-Lufengosaurus clade within Massospondylidae.

References

• Coloradisaurus at the Natural History Museum