Thotobolosaurus

Thotoboло's lizard

• Thotoboло · Sesotho · Thotobolo (a place name in Lesotho)
• -saurus · Greek · lizard

The name combines the Sesotho place name "Thotobolo" — a hill and locality in Lesotho, southern Africa — with the Greek suffix "-saurus" meaning "lizard." The genus was named in reference to the site in Lesotho where the fossils were discovered. This follows a common paleontological tradition of honouring the geographic origin of the specimen in the genus name.

Named by

Thulborn

Year named

1974

Period

Early Jurassic

Stages

Hettangian – Sinemurian

Found in

Upper Elliot Formation, Lesotho

Thotobolosaurus is a basal sauropodomorph (prosauropod-grade dinosaur) from the Upper Elliot Formation of Lesotho. It is generally regarded as a nomen dubium, as the material is fragmentary and insufficient to diagnose the genus with confidence. Some analyses have suggested it may be referable to Massospondylus or a close relative, but it has not been formally synonymised.