Massospondylus carinatus masoʊ-SPONDIHLUHS

Massospondylus ( ) is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa. It was described by Richard Owen in 1854 from remains discovered in South Africa, and is thus one of the first dinosaurs to have been named. The name Massospondylus means , alluding to what Owen identified as tail vertebrae; these vertebrae are now known to be from the neck. Although the original fossils were destroyed in London during The Blitz, a plethora of specimens have since been assigned to the genus, making it one of the best-known sauropodomorphs from the Early Jurassic. The genus lived during the Hettangian, Sinemurian, and Pliensbachian ages, which lasted from ca. to million years ago. Most fossils come from the upper Elliot and Clarens formations of South Africa and Lesotho, but the genus is also found in the Forest Sandstone and the Mpandi Formation of Zimbabwe.