Dinosaurs · Prosauropod

Melanorosaurus

Say it me-lan-or-oh-sore-us. The name means ‘Black [Mountain] lizard’.

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

Length: 12 m
Diet: Ate plants and animals
When: Late Triassic227 to 221 million years ago
Fossils found in: South Africa
Named by: Haughton (1924)
Family tree: Dinosauria › Saurischia › Sauropodomorpha › Anchisauria › Melanorosauridae

Where Melanorosaurus 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

Other prosauropods

Thecodontosaurus Late Triassic
Coloradisaurus Late Triassic
Guaibasaurus Late Triassic
Mussaurus Late Triassic
Riojasaurus Late Triassic
Plateosaurus Late Triassic
Massospondylus Early Jurassic
Jingshanosaurus Early Jurassic

Source: Melanorosaurus 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.