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Bipedal herbivorous basal sauropodomorph

thriving during the Rhaetian age of the Triassic

socket-tooth lizard filling fissures

in the chalkstone quarries of Clifton

robust morph in the population

indicating secondary species unlikely

sexual dimorphism or autapomorphies

small size due to insular dwarfism

roots of its teeth not fused with the jaw bone

but positioned in separate receptacles

long basipterygoid process on the skull

medium-sized serrated leaf-shaped teeth

short dentary in relation to the lower jaw

ilium subquadrate instead of rounded

hands long, narrow, with extended claws

its tail much longer than neck and body

exact cladistic analyses not decisive

placed in its own Thecodontosauridae

ancestral to Massospondylus

preceding the prosauropod-sauropod split

misassigned species as separate genera

carnivorous phytosaurians and Agrosaurus

Scelidosauridae, Anchisauridae or synonyms

Thecodontosaurus antiquus the valid species

one of the first saurian remains discovered

and one of the oldest that existed

once labeled a member of the Squamata

now the very epitome of Dinosauria