Name:
Efraasia (Greek for "Fraas' lizard"); pronounced eff-FRAY-zha
Habitat:
Woodlands of central Europe
Historical Period:
Late Triassic (215-205 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About 20 feet long and one ton
Diet:
Plants
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Slender trunk; long fingers on hands
About Efraasia:
Efraasia is one of those dinosaurs that paleontologists would rather file in a back cabinet and forget. This Triassic-period herbivore has been misidentified a record number of times--first as a crocodilian, then as a specimen of Thecodontosaurus, and finally as a juvenile Sellosaurus. By 2000 or so, Efraasia had been conclusively identified as an early herbivore (sometimes called a "sauropodomorph," since the branch it occupied later gave rise to giant sauropods). It's named after Eberhard Fraas, the German paleontologist who first unearthed its bones.
