Ngwevu
From Xhosa 'ngwevu' meaning 'grey' and 'intloko' meaning 'skull', giving the combined meaning 'grey skull'.
Early Jurassic stages
Ngwevu is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa. The genus contains one species, Ngwevu intloko.
Diagnosis
- Cranium wider than high with width to height ratio of ±1.7
- Wide skull relative to length with width to length ratio ±0.6
- Robust postorbital
- Frontals wider than long with width to length ratio 1.15
- Proportionally wide parietals with width to length ratio 0.7
- Broad U-shaped jaw
- Procumbent dentary teeth
- No more than 14 vertebrae between cervicodorsal transition and sacral vertebrae
Species
Ngwevu intloko Chapelle et al., 2019
Type species
From Xhosa 'intloko' meaning 'skull', referring to the grey-colored skull of the holotype; the full genus-plus-species name together means 'grey skull' in Xhosa.
- Holotype
- BP/1/4779 , Evolutionary Studies Institute (formerly Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research), University of the Witwatersrand
- Material
- A partially complete skeleton including skull.
- Horizon
- upper Elliot Formation, Hettangian–Pliensbachian, Early Jurassic , 201.4–184.2 million years ago
- Locality
- Tevrede (1077) Farm, Free State, South Africa Chapelle and colleagues (2019) place the holotype in the "Uppermost upper Elliot Formation", which they label "?Hettangian–? Sinemurian". The youngest dated upper Elliot sample, under 191.9 ± 1.5 Ma (Bordy and colleagues 2020), is Pliensbachian on the ICS chart v2024/12, so the top of the member may reach that stage.
References
- Chapelle, K. E. J.; Barrett, P. M.; Botha, J.; Choiniere, J. N. (2019). Ngwevu intloko: a new early sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa and comments on cranial ontogeny in Massospondylus carinatus. PeerJ 7: e7240. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.7240 chapelle2019a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates.
jones2026b -
Bordy, E. M.; Abrahams, M.; Sharman, G. R.; Viglietti, P. A.; Benson, R. B. J.; McPhee, B. W.; Barrett, P. M.; Sciscio, L.; Condon, D.; Mundil, R.; Rademan, Z.; Jinnah, Z.; Clark, J. M.; Suarez, C. A.; Chapelle, K. E. J.; Choiniere, J. N. (2020). A chronostratigraphic framework for the upper Stormberg Group: implications for the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in southern Africa. Earth-Science Reviews 203: 103120. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103120
Gives the youngest upper Elliot maximum depositional age, under 191.9 Ma, which falls in the Pliensbachian on the ICS chart v2024/12.
bordy2020a -
Hesselbo, S. P.; Ogg, J. G.; Ruhl, M.; Hinnov, L. A.; Huang, C. J. (2020). The Jurassic Period. Geologic Time Scale 2020 (Gradstein, F. M.; Ogg, J. G.; Schmitz, M. D.; Ogg, G. M., eds) 955-1021. Elsevier, Amsterdam. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-824360-2.00026-7
Puts the base of the Pliensbachian at 192.9 Ma.
hesselbo2020a