Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder: Prosauropoda
Family: Plateosauridae
Genus: Plateosaurus

Plateosaurus was an early sauropod dinosaur, and was one of the earliest specimens named in all of dinosauria. It was a prosauropod 'forerunner', in that it had many primitive characteristics which would later be refined by its descendents. It was a stocky biped, and balanced a long neck with an equally long tail. The heavy, narrow skull was lined with leaf-shaped teeth, ideal for herbivorous grazing. There was a spiked thumb on each hand, which would have been used for defence or stripping vegetation from plants. Superficially, Plateosaurus resembles a long-necked ornithopod, although the phylogenetics of such a relationship have yet to be understood.

Type Species: Plateosaurus engelhardti

Von Meyer, H. (1837). Mitteilung an Prof. Bronn (Plateosaurus engelhardti). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Vol. 316.

Locality:

Nuremberg, Germany.

Scientific Resources:

Gunga, H-C; Suthau, T; Bellmann, A; Friedrich, A; Schwanebeck, T; Stoinski, S; Tirppel, T; and Hellwich, O. (2007). Body mass estimations for Plateosaurus engelhardti using laser scanning and 3D reconstruction methods. Naturwissenschaften, Vol. 94, No. 8, pp. 623-630.

Klein, N. (2004). Bone histology and growth of the prosauropod dinosaur Plateosaurus engelhardti MEYER, 1837 from the Norian bonebeds of Trossingen (Germany) and Frick (Switzerland). Universitaet Bonn, Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences Dissertations, 2004.

Sander, PM. (1992). The Norian Plateosaurus bonebeds of central Europe and their taphonomy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Vol. 93, No. 3-4, pp. 255-299.