Open Paleo

Apatosaurinae

Huene, 1927 Type genus Apatosaurus

Its genera lived 154.8–143.1 million years ago Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Apatosaurinae is one of the two subfamilies of diplodocid sauropods, the other being Diplodocinae, together forming the family Diplodocidae. It contains the large, robustly built genera Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus, with the dubious Amphicoelias and a species sometimes placed in Atlantosaurus proposed as further possible members. All of its members lived during the Late Jurassic and are known from the Morrison Formation of the western United States, roughly 157 to 147 million years ago. The clade is stem-based, encompassing all diplodocids closer to Apatosaurus than to Diplodocus. Compared with the more gracile diplodocines, apatosaurines were stockier animals with proportionally shorter necks built from short, boxy, heavily constructed cervical vertebrae, and their forelimbs and shoulder girdles were unusually massive. The exceptional robustness of the neck has prompted the suggestion that these sauropods used their necks in combat between individuals.

Diagnosis

  1. Cervical ribs massive and ventrally displaced well below the centrum
  2. Cervical vertebrae short and stout relative to those of diplodocines
  3. Robustly constructed forelimb and pectoral girdle

Genera placed directly in Apatosaurinae

  • Apatosaurus Marsh, 1877 Kimmeridgian–Tithonian (154.8–143.1 Ma)United States
  • Brontosaurus Marsh, 1879 Kimmeridgian–Tithonian (154.8–143.1 Ma)United Statesunder dispute

References

  1. Huene, F. V. (1927). Sichtung der Grundlagen der jetzigen Kenntnis der Sauropoden [Sorting through the basis of the current knowledge of sauropods]. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 20: 444-470.

    Named the family of the 'Apatosaurids', from which the subfamily name takes its authorship by coordination.

    huene1927c
  2. Taylor, M. P.; Naish, D. (2005). The phylogenetic taxonomy of Diplodocoidea (Dinosauria: Sauropoda). PaleoBios 25(2): 1-7.

    Defined Apatosaurinae as all taxa closer to Apatosaurus than to Diplodocus.

    taylor2005a
  3. Tschopp, E.; Mateus, O.; Benson, R. B. J. (2015). A specimen-level phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of Diplodocidae (Dinosauria, Sauropoda). PeerJ 3: e857. PeerJ. doi:10.7717/peerj.857

    Validly applied Apatosaurinae in a phylogenetic context and resurrected Brontosaurus as a distinct genus.

    tschopp2015a