Massospondylidae Explained

Massospondylidae is a family of early massopod dinosaurs[1] [2] that existed in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Antarctica[3] during the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic periods. Several dinosaurs have been classified as massospondylids over the years. The largest cladistic analysis of early sauropodomorphs, which was presented by Apaldetti and colleagues in November 2011, found Adeopapposaurus, Coloradisaurus, Glacialisaurus, Massospondylus, Leyesaurus and Lufengosaurus to be massospondylids.[4] This result supports many previous analyses that tested fewer taxa.[2] [5] [6] [7] However, this analysis found the two recently described North American massopods, Sarahsaurus and Seitaad, and the South African Ignavusaurus to nest outside Massospondylidae, as opposed to some provisional proposals.[8] [9] Earlier in 2011, Pradhania, a sauropodomorph from India, was tested for the first time in a large cladistic analysis and was found to be a relatively basal massospondylid.[10] Mussaurus and Xixiposaurus may also be included within Massospondylidae.[11]

In 2019, a specimen previously assigned to Massospondylus from South Africa was re-examined and found to belong to a separate genus that was named Ngwevu.[12]

Phylogeny

Massospondylidae, which was first named by Huene in 1914, is a stem-based taxon. It was defined by Sereno as all animals more closely related to Massospondylus carinatus than to Plateosaurus engelhardti and Saltasaurus loricatus.[13]

The following simplified cladogram is based on an analysis presented by Chapelle and colleagues in 2019.[14]

Below is a simplified cladogram after Müller, 2019.[15]

The following cladogram shows the position of Massospondylidae within Massopoda, according to Oliver W. M. Rauhut and colleagues, 2020:[16]

Notes and References

  1. Yates . Adam M. . 2003 . Species taxonomy of the sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Löwenstein Formation (Norian, Late Triassic) of Germany . Palaeontology . 46 . 2 . 317–337 . 10.1111/j.0031-0239.2003.00301.x. 86801904 . free . 2003Palgy..46..317Y .
  2. Yates . Adam M. . 2007 . The first complete skull of the Triassic dinosaur Melanorosaurus Haughton (Sauropodomorpha: Anchisauria) . Paul M.. Barrett. David J.. Batten. Evolution and Palaeobiology . 9–55 .
  3. Hellert, Spencer M. "A New Basal Sauropodomorph from The Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of Antarctica." Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs,. Vol. 44. No. 5. 2012.
  4. 2011 . A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina . PLOS ONE . 6 . 11 . e26964 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0026964 . 2011PLoSO...626964A . Cecilia Apaldetti, Ricardo N. Martinez, Oscar A. Alcober and Diego Pol . Claessens . Leon . 22096511 . 3212523 . free .
  5. Smith . Nathan D. . Pol, Diego . 2007 . Anatomy of a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of Antarctica . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 52 . 4 . 657–674 .
  6. 10.1671/039.029.0102 . Martínez . Ricardo N. . 2009 . Adeopapposaurus mognai, gen. et sp. nov (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha), with comments on adaptations of basal sauropodomorpha . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 29 . 1 . 142–164. 2009JVPal..29..142M . 85074392 .
  7. 2011 . A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia and the Origin and Evolution of the Sauropod-type Sacrum . PLOS ONE . 6 . 1 . e14572 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0014572 . 21298087 . 3027623. 2011PLoSO...614572P . Diego Pol, Alberto Garrido, Ignacio A. Cerda . Farke . Andrew Allen . free .
  8. Joseph J. W. Sertich and Mark A. Loewen . 2010 . A New Basal Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of Southern Utah . PLOS ONE . 5 . 3 . e9789 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0009789 . 20352090. 2844413. 2010PLoSO...5.9789S. Laudet. Vincent . free .
  9. Yates . Adam M. . Matthew F. Bonnan . Johann Neveling . 2011 . A new basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 31 . 3 . 610–625 . 10.1080/02724634.2011.560626 . 2011JVPal..31..610Y . 85589914 .
  10. Fernando E. Novas . Martin D. Ezcurra . Sankar Chatterjee . T. S. Kutty . 2011 . New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of central India . Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . 101 . 3–4 . 333–349 . 10.1017/S1755691011020093. 2010EESTR.101..333N . 128620874 .
  11. SEKIYA Toru . 2010 . A new prosauropod dinosaur from Lower Jurassic in Lufeng of Yunnan . Global Geology . 29 . 1 . 6–15 . 10.3969/j.issn.1004-5589.2010.01.002 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150713225020/http://www.ceps.com.tw/ec/ecjnlarticleView.aspx?jnlcattype=1&jnlptype=3&jnltype=20&jnliid=2337&issueiid=93871&atliid=1940247 . 2015-07-13 . 31 January 2024 .
  12. Chapelle . K.E.J. . Barrett . P.M. . Botha . J.. Choiniere . J.N. . 2019 . Ngwevu intloko: a new early sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa and comments on cranial ontogeny in Massospondylus carinatus . . 7 . e7240 . 10.7717/peerj.7240 . 31403001 . 6687053 . free .
  13. Sereno . P.C. . 1998 . A rationale for phylogenetic definitions, with applications to the higher-level taxonomy of Dinosauria . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen . 210 . 41–83 . 10.1127/njgpa/210/1998/41.
  14. Chapelle . Kimberley E. J. . Barrett . Paul M. . Botha . Jennifer . Choiniere . Jonah N. . August 5, 2019 . Ngwevu intloko: a new early sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa and comments on cranial ontogeny in Massospondylus carinatus . . 7 . e7240 . 10.7717/peerj.7240. 31403001 . 6687053 . free .
  15. 10.1080/14772019.2019.1683902. Craniomandibular osteology of Macrocollum itaquii (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic of southern Brazil. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 805–841. 2019. Müller. Rodrigo Temp. 18. 10. 209575985.
  16. Rauhut . O. W. M. . Holwerda . F. M. . Furrer . H. . A derived sauropodiform dinosaur and other sauropodomorph material from the Late Triassic of Canton Schaffhausen, Switzerland . Swiss Journal of Geosciences . 2020 . 113 . 1 . 8 . 10.1186/s00015-020-00360-8. 220294939 . free .

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