About Project Aardonyx

This dinosaur from the Early Jurassic (195 million years ago) of South Africa is shedding new light on the origins of the most enormous dinosaurs ever: the sauropods.

Sauropod dinosaurs reached their zenith in size in the Late Jurassic (150 million years ago) but there has been a gap in our knowledge of the beginnings of this gigantism in the Early Jurassic (195 million years ago). 

Thanks to support from National Geographic and Western Illinois University, Aardonyx, which appears to be closely related to the common ancestor of all sauropods, was discovered in this window of time in South Africa.

Publication

Yates, A.M., Bonnan, M.F., Neveling, J., Chinsamy, A., and Blackbeard, M. 2009. A new transitional sauropodomorph from the Early Jurassic of South Africa and the evolution of sauropod feeding and quadrupedalism. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B: DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1440.

Funding Sources

Without the support of these agencies, this project would not have been possible.

Videos

Special Thanks

Our team would like to also acknowledge the many people who helped us on our journey.

Location

The quarry site is outside of Rosendal, South Africa.