Plateosaurus fossil map
Where fossils of Plateosaurus have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 215 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 215 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Sauropods & prosauropods |
|---|---|
| Lived | 227.3–199.5 million years ago (Norian to Hettangian) |
| Periods | Triassic, Jurassic |
| Family | Plateosauridae |
| Named by | Meyer 1837 |
| Fossil records | 36 occurrences at 30 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Germany, France, Switzerland, Greenland, UK, O2, South Africa, Argentina |
| Rock formations | Löwenstein, Trossingen, Klettgau, Marnes irisées supérieures, txn:54157, Ørsted Dal |
About Plateosaurus
Plateosaurus (probably meaning "broad lizard", often mistranslated as "flat lizard") is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic epoch of the Triassic period, around 214 to 204 million years ago, in what is now Central and Northern Europe. Plateosaurus is a basal (early) sauropodomorph dinosaur, a so-called "prosauropod". The type species is Plateosaurus trossingensis; before 2019, that honor was given to Plateosaurus engelhardti, but it was ruled as undiagnostic (i.e. indistinguishable from other dinosaurs) by the ICZN. Currently, there are three valid species; in addition to P. trossingensis, P. longiceps and P. gracilis are also known. However, others have been assigned in the past, and there is no broad consensus on the species taxonomy of plateosaurid dinosaurs. Similarly, there are a plethora of synonyms (invalid duplicate names) at the genus level.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Plateosaurus (revision 1371903580), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 22 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in.
