Dinosaurs · Prosauropod

Massospondylus

Say it mass-oh-SPON-di-luss. The name means ‘massive vertebrae’.

Massospondylus beside a person 1.75 m tall. Ticks mark every metre.Body shape drawn for this site, showing the general build of prosauropods

Length: 4 m
Weight: 70 kg
Diet: Ate plants and animalstough plant material
Walked: On 2 or 4 legs
When: Early Jurassic208 to 204 million years ago
Fossils found in: Lesotho, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Named by: Owen (1854)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Saurischia › Sauropodomorpha › Prosauropoda › Plateosauria › Plateosauridae

Where Massospondylus sits in the age of dinosaurs.Periods from the ICS chart; dinosaur dates from the Natural History Museum

Prosauropods. Early long-necked plant-eaters, relatives of the sauropods. See all 16

Lived at the same time

Coelophysis · same country
Lesothosaurus · same country
Lycorhinus · same country
Vulcanodon · same country
Heterodontosaurus · same country
Scelidosaurus
Thecodontosaurus
Jingshanosaurus

Other prosauropods

Plateosaurus Late Triassic
Jingshanosaurus Early Jurassic
Yunnanosaurus Early Jurassic
Aardonyx Early Jurassic
Lufengosaurus Early Jurassic
Ammosaurus Early Jurassic
Coloradisaurus Late Triassic
Guaibasaurus Late Triassic

Source: Massospondylus in the Natural History Museum Dino Directory, read 12 November 2026. Sizes are the museum's estimates for a typical adult. "Lived at the same time" lists dinosaurs whose dates overlap, which does not always mean they met.