Pampadromaeus

Pampadromaeus is an extinct genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs known from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Santa Maria Formation of the Paraná Basin in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil.

== Discovery == Pampadromaeus is known only from the holotype specimen ULBRA-PVT016, a disarticulated, partial but well preserved skeleton from a single individual which includes most of the skull bones and the lower jaws; dorsal, sacral and caudal vertebrae; elements of the shoulder girdle and the forelimbs, an ilium and elements of the hindlimbs. It was collected in the upper Hyperodapedon biozone from the Alemoa Member of the Santa Maria Formation (Rosário do Sul Group) in the "Janner" (also known as "Várzea do Agudo") locality, geopark of Paleorrota, dating to the Carnian faunal stage of the early Late Triassic, about 230–228 Ma ago. A U-Pb (uranium decay) dating found that the Santa Maria Formation dated around 233.23 Ma, putting it 1.5 million years older than the Ischigualasto Formation, and making the two formations approximately equal as the earliest dinosaur localities.