Ledumahadi mafube

"giant thunderclap"

You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Ledumahadi 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Early Jurassic (200–195 Mya)
Place
Africa · South Africa
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.

Ledumahadi (meaning “giant thunderclap” in Sesotho language) is a genus of lessemsaurid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Elliot Formation in Free State Province, South Africa. The type and only species is L. mafube, known from a singular incomplete postcranial specimen. A quadruped, it was one of the first giant sauropodomorphs, reaching a weight of around 12 tonne, despite not having evolved columnar limbs like its later huge relatives.

What we know

  • Named by McPhee et al., 2018.
  • Fossils found in Africa and South Africa.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Ledumahadi — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.