The Prosauropods, also known as Plateosaurids, were the first large dinosaurs. They lived during the late Triassic and early Jurassic eras (230-180 million years ago).
They were plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks and tails,
small heads, wide bodies and four strong legs. Although they walked on all
fours, some of them, such as Plateosaurus, may have reared up on their hind
legs to reach leaves on tall plants. This was an animal that was up to nine
metres long and may have weighed as much as three tonnes.
Riojasaurus lived about 220-215 million years ago in what is
now Argentina. It was ten metres long and probably weighed about two tonnes.
Fossils of Sellosaurus, which lived 215-210 million years
ago, have been found in Europe.
Lufengosaurus, from the early Jurassic, lived in what is now
China and was up to nine metres long. A skeleton of Lufengosaurus was the first
complete dinosaur fossil to be found in that country.
The Prosauropods were followed by the Sauropods that were
even bigger but with the same basic shape having long necks and tails.
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