Massopoda Explained

Massopoda is a clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs which lived during the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous epochs. It was named by paleontologist Adam M. Yates of the University of the Witwatersrand in 2007. Massopoda is a stem-based taxon, defined as all animals more closely related to Saltasaurus loricatus than to Plateosaurus engelhardti.^[1]

The name Massopoda, ;, is also contraction of Massospondylidae and Sauropoda, two disparate taxa in the clade.

Classification

Yates assigned the Massopoda to Plateosauria. Within the clade, he assigned the families Massospondylidae (which includes the relatively well-known dinosaur Massospondylus) and Riojasauridae (which includes Riojasaurus) as well as the Sauropoda.^[2]

The following is a cladogram from an analysis presented by Oliver W. M. Rauhut and colleagues in 2020:^[3]

Notes and References

1. Yates, Adam M. . 2007 . Solving a dinosaurian puzzle: the identity of Aliwalia rex Galton . Historical Biology . 19 . 1 . 93–123 . 10.1080/08912960600866953. 2007HBio...19...93Y . 85202575 .
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 . 77 . 9–55 . 978-1-4051-6933-2 .
3. 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 .