Open Paleo

Massospondylidae

Huene, 1914 Type genus Massospondylus

Its genera lived 227.3–174.7 million years ago Late Triassic–Early Jurassic
Late Triassic and Early Jurassic stages

Massospondylidae is a family of early massopod sauropodomorph dinosaurs that lived from the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic, with a near-global spread that reached Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Antarctica. It is defined as a stem-based group encompassing all animals more closely related to Massospondylus carinatus than to Plateosaurus or Saltasaurus (Sereno, 2007). Most recent analyses recover a monophyletic Massospondylidae that usually includes Massospondylus, Coloradisaurus and Lufengosaurus with a variable number of other taxa, though some have found it to contain Massospondylus alone (Barrett and colleagues, 2019); Fernández and Werneburg (2022) add Adeopapposaurus, Glacialisaurus and Leyesaurus, and Pradhania falls within the family for Novas and colleagues (2010) but in Unaysauridae for Barrett and colleagues (2026). Its members were small to medium-sized, long-necked, facultatively bipedal herbivores or omnivores that represent an early-branching lineage of sauropodomorphs rather than close relatives of the true sauropods.

Diagnosis

  1. Snout with a depression behind the external naris
  2. Strongly ventrally curved symphyseal end of the dentary
  3. Cervical vertebrae 4 or 5 more than four times longer than the anterior centrum height
  4. Lacrimal with a web of bone spanning the junction of its anterior and ventral rami

Genera placed directly in Massospondylidae

  • Adeopapposaurus Martínez, 2009 Hettangian–Toarcian (201.4–174.7 Ma)Argentina
  • Coloradisaurus Bonaparte, 1978 Norian (227.3–205.7 Ma)Argentina
  • Fulengia Nomen dubium Carroll & Galton, 1977 Sinemurian (199.5–192.9 Ma)Chinaincertae sedisunder dispute
  • Glacialisaurus Smith & Pol, 2007 Sinemurian–Pliensbachian (199.5–184.2 Ma)Antarctica
  • Gryponyx Disputed Broom, 1911 Hettangian–Sinemurian (201.4–192.9 Ma)South Africaincertae sedis
  • Leyesaurus Apaldetti et al., 2011 Early JurassicArgentina
  • Lufengosaurus Young, 1940 Hettangian–Sinemurian (201.4–192.9 Ma)China
  • Massospondylus Owen, 1854 Hettangian–Sinemurian (201.4–192.9 Ma)South Africa
  • Ngwevu Chapelle et al., 2019 Hettangian–Pliensbachian (201.4–184.2 Ma)South Africa

References

  1. Huene, F. von (1914). Das natürliche System der Saurischia [The natural system of the Saurischia]. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie B 1914: 154-158.

    Grouped Massospondylus and Aetonyx as a family, printed only in the German form Massospondyliden.

    huene1914a
  2. Sereno, P. C. (2007). Basal Sauropodomorpha: historical and recent phylogenetic hypotheses, with comments on Ammosaurus major (Marsh, 1889). Special Papers in Palaeontology 77: 261-289.

    Defined Massospondylidae as the most inclusive clade containing Massospondylus carinatus but not Plateosaurus engelhardti or Saltasaurus loricatus.

    sereno2007a
  3. Apaldetti, C.; Martínez, R. N.; Alcober, O. A.; Pol, D. (2011). A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina. PLoS ONE 6(11): e26964. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026964

    Recovered Massospondylidae with an expanded membership in the analysis describing Leyesaurus.

    apaldetti2011a
  4. Barrett, P. M.; Chapelle, K. E. J.; Staunton, C. K.; Botha, J.; Choiniere, J. N. (2019). Postcranial osteology of the neotype specimen of Massospondylus carinatus Owen, 1854 (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the upper Elliot Formation of South Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 53: 114-178.

    Redescribed the Massospondylus neotype, tracing the family's definition to Sereno (1998) as amended and noting that most analyses recover it with a variable membership.

    barrett2019a
  5. Sereno, P. C. (1998). A rationale for phylogenetic definitions, with application to the higher-level taxonomy of Dinosauria. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 210: 41-83. doi:10.1127/njgpa/210/1998/41

    Gave the original stem-based definition of Massospondylidae, with Plateosaurus as the external specifier.

    sereno1998a
  6. Fernández, O. R. R.; Werneburg, I. (2022). A new massopodan sauropodomorph from Trossingen Formation (Germany) hidden as 'Plateosaurus' for 100 years in the historical Tübingen collection. Vertebrate Zoology 72: 771-822. Pensoft Publishers. doi:10.3897/vz.72.e86348

    Listed Massospondylus, Leyesaurus, Adeopapposaurus, Glacialisaurus, Coloradisaurus and Lufengosaurus in Massospondylidae.

    fernández2022a
  7. Novas, F. E.; Ezcurra, M. D.; Chatterjee, S.; Kutty, T. S. (2010). 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. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/S1755691011020093

    Described new Maleri sauropodomorphs and recovered Pradhania, included in its analysis, nested within Massospondylidae.

    novas2010a
  8. Barrett, P. M.; Botha, J.; Sciscio, L.; Stuart, B. P.; Lovegrove, J.; Munyikwa, D.; Zondo, M.; Broderick, T. J.; Edwards, S. F.; Mbambo, E.; Chapelle, K. E. J.; Dollman, K. N.; Tolan, S.; Choiniere, J. N. (2026). A new sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Pebbly Arkose Formation (Upper Triassic: Norian) of Kariba, Zimbabwe. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 24(2): 2678610. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2026.2678610

    Described a new sauropodomorph and recovered Pradhania in a monophyletic Unaysauridae.

    barrett2026a
  9. Huene, F. von (1914). Saurischia et Ornithischia triadica ("Dinosauria" triadica). Fossilium Catalogus I: Animalia 4: 1-21. W. Junk, Berlin.

    Named the family Massospondylidae (p. 13), marked as new, for Massospondylus.

    huene1914b