Sauropoda

Sauropods
Temporal range:
Late TriassicLate Cretaceous, 228–66 Ma
Six sauropods (top left to bottom right): Patagotitan, Barosaurus, Giraffatitan, Omeisaurus, Shunosaurus, and Amargasaurus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Sauropodomorpha
Clade: Anchisauria
Clade: Sauropoda
Marsh, 1878
Subgroups
Synonyms
  • Opisthocoelia Owen, 1860
  • Cetiosauria Seeley, 1870
  • Diplodocia Tornier, 1913

Sauropoda (/sɔːˈrɒpədə/), whose members are known as sauropods (/ˈsɔːrəpɒdz/;[1][2] from sauro- + -pod, 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include Apatosaurus, Argentinosaurus, Alamosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, and Mamenchisaurus.[3][4]

The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic.[5] Isanosaurus and Antetonitrus were originally described as Triassic sauropods,[6][7] but their age, and in the case of Antetonitrus also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned.[8][5][9] Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic.[5] By the Late Jurassic (150 million years ago), sauropods had become widespread (especially the diplodocids and brachiosaurids). By the Late Cretaceous, one group of sauropods, the titanosaurs, had replaced all others and had a near-global distribution. However, as with all other non-avian dinosaurs alive at the time, the titanosaurs died out in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Fossilised remains of sauropods have been found on every continent, including Antarctica.[10][11][12][13]

The name Sauropoda was coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, and is derived from Ancient Greek, meaning "lizard foot".[14] Sauropods are one of the most recognizable groups of dinosaurs, and have become a fixture in popular culture due to their impressive size.

Complete sauropod fossil finds are extremely rare. Many species, especially the largest, are known only from isolated and disarticulated bones. Many near-complete specimens lack heads, tail tips and limbs.

  1. ^ "sauropod". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster.
  2. ^ "sauropod". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  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. doi:10.7717/peerj.857. PMC 4393826. PMID 25870766.
  4. ^ blogs.scientificamerican.com tetrapod-zoology 2015-04-24 That Brontosaurus Thing
  5. ^ a b c Jens N. Lallensack; Hendrik Klein; Jesper Milàn; Oliver Wings; Octávio Mateus; Lars B. Clemmensen (2017). "Sauropodomorph dinosaur trackways from the Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland: Evidence for Late Triassic sauropods". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62 (4): 833–843. doi:10.4202/app.00374.2017. hdl:10362/33146.
  6. ^ Eric Buffetaut; Varavudh Suteethorn; Gilles Cuny; Haiyan Tong; Jean Le Loeuff; Sasidhorn Khansubha; Sutee Jongautchariyakul (2000). "The earliest known sauropod dinosaur". Nature. 407 (6800): 72–74. Bibcode:2000Natur.407...72B. doi:10.1038/35024060. PMID 10993074. S2CID 4387776.
  7. ^ Adam M. Yates; James W. Kitching (2003). "The earliest known sauropod dinosaur and the first steps towards sauropod locomotion". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 270 (1525): 1753–1758. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2417. PMC 1691423. PMID 12965005.
  8. ^ Blair W. McPhee; Adam M. Yates; Jonah N. Choiniere; Fernando Abdala (2014). "The complete anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of Antetonitrus ingenipes (Sauropodiformes, Dinosauria): implications for the origins of Sauropoda". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 171 (1): 151–205. doi:10.1111/zoj.12127. S2CID 82631097.
  9. ^ Blair W. Mcphee; Emese M. Bordy; Lara Sciscio; Jonah N. Choiniere (2017). "The sauropodomorph biostratigraphy of the Elliot Formation of southern Africa: Tracking the evolution of Sauropodomorpha across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 62 (3): 441–465. doi:10.4202/app.00377.2017.
  10. ^ Fernando E. Novas (2009). The Age of Dinosaurs in South America. Indiana University Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-253-35289-7.
  11. ^ Oklahoma Geology Notes. Oklahoma Geological Survey. 2003. p. 40.
  12. ^ Beau Riffenburgh (2007). Encyclopedia of the Antarctic. Taylor & Francis. p. 415. ISBN 978-0-415-97024-2.
  13. ^ J. J. Alistair Crame; Geological Society of London (1989). Origins and Evolution of the Antarctic Biota. Geological Society. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-903317-44-3.
  14. ^ Marsh, O.C. (1878). "Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs. Part I"". American Journal of Science and Arts. 16 (95): 411–416. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-16.95.411. hdl:2027/hvd.32044107172876. S2CID 219245525.