Dino of the Week: Efraasia

Type Species: Efraasia minor
Classification: Dinosauria - Saurischia - Sauropodomorpha - Prosauropoda
Time Period: Late Triassic
Location: Germany
Diet: Herbivore

Efraasia was a prosauropod herbivore that lived during the middle Norian stage of the Late Triassic (around 210 mya). Several specimens have been discovered in Germany, and though these were attributed to various species of Efraasia, recently they were combined into one species: Efraasia minor. Like Mussaurus, Efraasia was considered to be a ‘small fry’ that reached only about seven to ten feet in length. Upon further examination, however, it became apparent that the fossils belonged to a juvenile; adult length has been estimated around twenty-one feet. Efraasia was lightly-built with gracile hands and feet. It had long fingers and mobile thumbs, with which it could grasp food, and the anatomy of its wrists may have enabled it to walk on all fours. Its skull was small, pointed, and triangular. Its neck was only moderately elongated and thin. A cluster of gastroliths (stomach stones) was found near one specimen.