Lessemsauridae

Lessemsaurids
Temporal range:
Late Triassic-Early Jurassic, 218–193 Ma
Skeletal mount of Lessemsaurus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Clade: †Lessemsauridae
Apaldetti et al., 2018
Genera

Lessemsauridae is a clade of early sauropodiform dinosaurs that lived in the Triassic and Jurassic of Argentina, South Africa and possibly Lesotho. A phylogenetic analysis performed by Apaldetti and colleagues in 2018 recovered a new clade of sauropodiforms uniting Lessemsaurus, Antetonitrus, and Ingentia which they named Lessemsauridae. It is a node-based taxon, defined as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of Lessemsaurus sauropoides and Antetonitrus ingenipes.[1] Depending on the definition of Sauropoda, Lessemsauridae is either one of the most basal sauropod taxa, or a sister taxon of Sauropoda. An additional member of the clade was named later in 2018, Ledumahadi.[2] A 2021 study by Pol and colleagues also assigned the genera Kholumolumo and Meroktenos to the group.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Apaldetti2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference McPhee2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pol2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).