Blikanasaurus

Name: Blikanasaurus ‭(‬Blikana lizard‭)‬.
Phonetic: Blik-ah-nah-sore-us.
Named By: Galton and van Heerden‭ ‬-‭ ‬1985.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Saurischia,‭ ‬Sauropodomorpha.
Species: B.‭ ‬cromptoni‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Unknown due to lack of fossils.
Known locations: South Africa‭ ‬-‭ ‬Cape Province‭ ‬-‭ ‬Elliot Formation.
Time period: Late Triassic.
Fossil representation: Left lower hind leg.

       Although only known from a single limb section,‭ ‬a lot can actually be inferred about this dinosaur.‭ ‬One is that the shape and form of the limb reveals it is from a sauropodomorph dinosaur,‭ ‬better known as the ancestors of the sauropods like the later Apatosaurus and Camarasaurus.‭ ‬In additional the foot is proportionately much shorter than earlier forms which reveals that Blikanasaurus was probably quadrupedal for most if not all of the time‭ (‬earlier sauropodomorphs are generally regarded as switching between quadrupedal and bipedal postures as the situation dictated‭)‬.‭ ‬Also,‭ ‬since the Blikanasaurus holotype comes from a late Triassic age deposit in South Africa,‭ ‬it reinforces the theory that the dinosaurs had their point of origin in South America and then radiated out across the globe when the continents were still mostly joined together.
       However,‭ ‬while Blikanasaurus is a sauropodomorph,‭ ‬it was probably not an ancestor of the later sauropod giants that were common by the late Jurassic.‭ ‬The Blikanasaurus holotype also reveals the fifth toe is severely reduced in size to what it was in later forms.‭ ‬This indicates that Blikanasaurus was probably an evolutionary side branch that terminated without any long lasting descendants because the later sauropods are so far all known to have well developed fifth toes to assist with weight bearing.



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