Town and a brief note was published. The find was formally named and described in July 1972 by palaeontologist Michael Raath. The name Vulcanodon (lat. Vulcanus – Roman god of fire; gr. odon – "tooth") points to the fact that the skeleton was found in sandstone, that was at the time misinterpreted to be part of the Batoka Formation but is actually part of the Forest Sandstone lays a few metres below the lava flows of the Batoka Formation, and emphasizes the peculiar knife-shaped teeth that are now known to belong to a theropod. The specific name, karibaensis, refers to the place of discovery on a small island in Lake Kariba. It was one of the first dinosaurs found in Zimbabwe. The skeleton (catalogue number QG24) has been found weathering out of a hill slope and was partially eroded by surface exponation and plant roots. It includes the pelvis and sacrum, most of the left hind limb and foot, a right thigh bone, and twelve anterior tail vertebrae. These remains pertain to a single individual as they were all found articulated (still connected together). Additionally, several disarticulated bones were found, including the right forearm and some metacarpalia and phalanges from both the right and left forefeet, probably also pertaining to this individual. Later, the site was revisited by the scientists Geoffrey Bond and Michael Cooper, who were able to collect additional remains including a scapula (specimen QG152, a shoulder blade) and a fragment of a neck vertebra. These remains show that more than one individual was present, and it is possible that they do not pertain to Vulcanodon at all. Today, the Vulcanodon remains are stored in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. Raath (1972) noted the discovery of nine fragmentary carnivorous teeth near the pelvic region of the skeleton. He argued that the Vulcanodon carcass might have been embedded with the head and neck bended backwards above the pelvis, a posture called death pose that is frequently seen in dinosaur skeletons. The teeth would have been the only preserved elements of the skull. However, as shown by Cooper (1984), these teeth do not pertain to Vulcanodon but to a theropod dinosaur that may have scavenged on the Vulcanodon carcass. Classification Originally, Michael Raath (1972) described Vulcanodon not as a sauropod but as an advanced, specialized prosauropod, possibly of the family Melanorosauridae. According to Raath, the sauropod-like limb