Open Paleo

Plateosauria

Tornier, 1913

Its genera lived 227.3–66.0 million years ago Late Triassic–Late Cretaceous

Plateosauria is a large, node-based clade within Sauropodomorpha, conventionally defined as the last common ancestor of Plateosaurus and Massospondylus (Sereno, 2007), or of Plateosaurus and Jingshanosaurus (Galton and Upchurch, 2004), together with all of that ancestor's descendants. So defined, it unites the Plateosauridae with the more inclusive Massopoda and takes in Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sauropodomorphs such as Coloradisaurus, Euskelosaurus, Jingshanosaurus, Massospondylus, Mussaurus, Sellosaurus, and Yunnanosaurus, while its descendant lineages also encompass the giant, long-necked true sauropods. It groups the more derived, generally herbivorous members of the lineage, spanning the transition from largely bipedal early forms toward larger-bodied, increasingly quadrupedal ones. In all, it accounts for the bulk of sauropodomorph diversity above the earliest, most basal grade.

Diagnosis

  1. Leaf-shaped cheek teeth with coarse marginal denticles set at an angle to the crown margin
  2. Robust, weight-bearing limb proportions
  3. Enlarged, broad-bladed manual pollex
  4. Anteroposteriorly elongate, low ilium

Clades within Plateosauria

Genera placed directly in Plateosauria

  • Musankwa Barrett et al., 2024 Norian (227.3–205.7 Ma)Zimbabweincertae sedisunder dispute
  • Plateosauravus Huene, 1932 Norian–Rhaetian (227.3–201.4 Ma)South Africaincertae sedisunder dispute
  • Pradhania Kutty et al., 2007 Hettangian–Sinemurian (201.4–192.9 Ma)Indiaincertae sedisunder dispute
  • Ruehleia Galton, 2001 Norian (227.3–205.7 Ma)Germanyincertae sedisunder dispute
  • Xixiposaurus Sekiya, 2010 Hettangian–Sinemurian (201.4–192.9 Ma)Chinaincertae sedisunder dispute

References

  1. Tornier, G. (1913). Reptilia (Paläontologie). Handwörterbuch der Naturwissenschaften 8: 337-376.

    Proposed the suborder Plateosauria, with a diagnosis, as a replacement name for Theropoda, its six families including Plateosauridae, Anchisauridae and Megalosauridae.

    tornier1913a
  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 Plateosauria as the least inclusive clade containing Massospondylus carinatus and Plateosaurus engelhardti but not Saltasaurus loricatus.

    sereno2007a
  3. Müller, R. T.; Langer, M. C.; Dias-da-Silva, S. (2018). An exceptionally preserved association of complete dinosaur skeletons reveals the oldest long-necked sauropodomorphs. Biology Letters 14(11): 20180633. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2018.0633

    Recovers Plateosauria as Plateosauridae plus Massopoda, sister to Unaysauridae.

    müller2018a
  4. Galton, P. M.; Upchurch, P. (2004). Prosauropoda. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 232-258. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Defined Plateosauria as Jingshanosaurus, Plateosaurus, their most recent common ancestor and all its descendants.

    galton2004a