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| Plateosaurus | |
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| Mounted skeleton of Plateosaurus, Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen, Germany | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Sauropodomorpha |
| Infraorder: | Prosauropoda |
| Family: | Plateosauridae |
| Genus: | Plateosaurus Meyer, 1837 |
Plateosaurus (meaning 'flat lizard') is a genus of plateosaurid prosauropod dinosaurs. They lived during the Norian and Rhaetian stages of the Upper Triassic period, around 216 to 199 million years ago in what is now Europe.
The Plateosaurus was the first long-necked plant eater in the Triassic. An adult Plateosaurus can weigh up to 1,500 pounds and 27 feet long. They used both hands to pull leaves off trees, but since they had weak teeth, they used their sharp thumb claws to defense themselves against predators.
Restoration of P. engelhardti
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alt=Side view of a skull and the anterior part of the neck. The skull is rectangular, nearly three times as long as it was high, with an almost rectangular lateral temporal foramen at the back. The large, round orbit (eye socket), the sub-triangular antorbital fenestra and the oval naris are of almost equal size. The lower jaw is shallow, and has a large process extending far behind the jaw joint. The teeth are small and form long rows.
alt= A mounted skeleton of Plateosaurus engelhardti in a glass case, seen from front left. The animal stands on two legs, its back is bent, its neck curves strongly downwards, and the tail drags, creating a drooping look
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Skull cast of P. gracilis
P. engelhardti in Sauriermuseum, Frick
alt=Lateral view drawing of the animal; it is depicted as a biped with grasping hands with palms facing medially. The tail is held high, as is the neck.
Plateosaurus engelhardti (previously P. quenstedti) skull and neck at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
alt=Photograph of an articulated skeleton missing the head and tail, seen from above. The animal has the limbs strongly folded in a squatting posture, the arms are spread out with the palms facing up and inward. The body and neck curve to the right, with the body making a 40° curve and the neck a 110° curve. The trunk is compressed, which can be seen from the shoulder blades sticking straight up and the ribs being folded backwards. All sediment that is not necessary to keep the bones of the body and neck connected has been removed.
alt=Photograph of the dinosaur skeleton in dorsal view. It is partly embedded in rock, so that all bones are in the position they were found in. The animal rests on its belly, neck and tail curving so that the overall shape is almost a U, with the limbs folded and spread widely, while its right arm is buried under the trunk, and the left upper arm extends outwards. The left lower arm cannot be seen, because it points down into the sediment. The ribcage is partly torn, and the ribs and gastral ribs are scattered, but the backbone is intact. The tail shows a gap where bones were destroyed during discovery.
Mounted cast of SMNS 13200. An example of the out-dated skeleton mounts in the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart in quadrupedal posture. The shoulder girdle is in an anatomically infeasible position, the elbow is disarticulated, and the ribcage has the wrong shape, wide instead of high oval.
alt=Photograph of the mounted skeleton, seen from the front left. The animal stands on the hind limbs, with the body and tail horizontal. The neck curves down so that the snout is near the ground, as if the animal was feeding. The arms are flexed, with the hands well clear of the ground, and the palm directed medially.
Restoration of two P. engelhardti
