Pronunciation:
Meaning: Rainbow lizard
Author/s: Yates et al. (2011)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Free State, South Africa
Discovery Chart Position: #777
Arcusaurus pereirabdalorum
(Pereira and Abdala's Rainbow Lizard)Etymology
Arcusaurus is derived from the Latin "arcus" (rainbow) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard), for the people of South
Africa, the "rainbow nation".The species epithet, pereirabdalorum, honours Lucille Pereira and Fernando Abdala who discovered the holotype and most of the referred fossils respectively.
Discovery
The first remains of Arcusaurus were discovered in the upper Elliot Formation at "Sauropod Quarry" on the farm Spion Kop 932, just over a kilometer East-North East of "Marc's Quarry" that yielded the holotype of Aardonyx celestae, Senekal District, Free State, South Africa, by Lucille Pereira in March 2006.
The holotype (BP/1/6235) is the partial right side of a skull.
A tail vertebra is also included, but its association with the same individual is not certain.
Fellow sauropodomorph Pulanesaura eocollum was found in the same quarry. Several fossils found within a 50cm radius of the holotype, mostly by Fernando Abdala, were referred to Arcusaurus based on their proximity, similarity and size, which are all closer to Arcusaurus than they are to the larger Pulanesaura eocollum from the same quarry and the much larger Massospondylus from the same zone.
Referred specimens:
Isolated teeth (BP/1/6842, BP/1/6843), incomplete left lower jaw (BP/1/6853), two snout bones (BP/1/6844, BP/1/6845), two toe bones (BP/1/6846, BP/1/6847), two toe claws (BP/1/6848, BP/1/6849), the top end of a right upper arm (BP/1/6850), a partial hip vertebra (BP/1/6851), a piece of pelvic bone (BP/1/6926) and a fragment of braincase (BP/1/6925).
Preparators
Charles Dube at University of the Witwatersrand.
