monospecific assemblage by theorising that Plateosaurus were common during this period. This theory was erroneously attributed to Seemann in a popular account of the plateosaurs in the collection of the Institute and Museum for Geology and Palaeontology, University of Tübingen, and has since become the standard explanation on most internet sites and in popular books on dinosaurs. Rieber proposed a more elaborate scenario, which included the animals dying of thirst or starvation, and being concentrated by mudflows. Mud-miring trap A detailed re-assessment of the taphonomy by palaeontologist Martin Sander of the University of Bonn, Germany, found that the mud-miring hypothesis first suggested by Fraas is true: animals above a certain body weight sank into the mud, which was further liquefied by their attempts to free themselves. Sander's scenario, similar to that proposed for the famous Rancho La Brea Tar Pits, is the only one explaining all taphonomic data. The degree of completeness of the carcasses was not influenced by transport, which is obvious from the lack of indications for transport before burial, but rather by how much the dead animals were scavenged. Juveniles of Plateosaurus and other taxa of herbivores were too light to sink into the mud or managed to extract themselves, and were thus not preserved. Similarly, scavenging theropods were not trapped due to their lower body weights, combined with proportionally larger feet. There is no indication of herding, or of catastrophic burial of such a herd, or catastrophic accumulation of animals that previously died isolated elsewhere. Notes References External links 3D skull models of Plateosaurus at Sketchfab 3D walking skeletal model of Plateosaurus at Sketchfab Plateosauridae Clawed herbivores Late Triassic genus first appearances Late Triassic genus extinctions Late Triassic dinosaurs of Europe Fossils of Germany Fossils of Switzerland Fossils of Norway Fossil taxa described in 1837 Taxa named by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer