Somphospondyli

Somphospondylans are an extinct clade of titanosauriform sauropods that lived throughout the world from the Late Jurassic through the Cretaceous in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Somphospondylans Temporal range: Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, 155–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeleton of Qiaowanlong
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Suborder:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Camarasauromorpha
Clade:	†Titanosauriformes
Clade:	†Somphospondyli Wilson & Sereno, 1998
Genera
†Agustinia? †Angolatitan †Arkharavia? †Astrophocaudia †Australodocus †Austrosaurus? †Brontomerus †Chubutisaurus †Dongbeititan †Dongyangosaurus †Erketu †Europatitan †Gobititan? †Jiangshanosaurus †Liaoningotitan †Ligabuesaurus †Padillasaurus †Sauroposeidon †Sibirotitan †Tastavinsaurus †Triunfosaurus †Wintonotitan †Yunmenglong †Euhelopodidae †Titanosauria

Classification

The group can be defined as the most inclusive clade that includes Saltasaurus loricatus but excludes Brachiosaurus altithorax. Features found as diagnostic of this clade by Mannion et al. 2013 include the possession of at least 15 cervical vertebrae; a bevelled radius bone end; sacral vertebrae with camellate internal texture; convex posterior articular surfaces of middle to posterior caudal vertebrae; biconvex distal caudal vertebrae; humerus anterolateral corner "squared"; among multiple others. [1] Below are the results for the phylogenetic analysis performed by Fernández-Baldor et al. 2017 during the description of Europatitan:[2]

Somphospondyli

Europatitan eastwoodi     Tendaguria tanzaniensis       Sauroposeidon proteles       Chubutisaurus insignis     Erketu ellisoni   Titanosauria       Andesaurus delgadoi       Ligabuesaurus lenzai     Wintonotitan wattsi             Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae       Mendozasaurus neguyelap       Argentinosaurus huinculensis     Malarguesaurus florenciae       Epachthosaurus sciuttoi       Malawisaurus dixleyi         Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis       Rapetosaurus krausei       Tapuiasaurus macedoi     Isisaurus colberti             Trigonosaurus pricei       Alamosaurus sanjuanensis       Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii       Saltasaurus loricatus     Neuquensaurus australis

References

1. Mannion, P.D.; Upchurch, P.; Barnes, R.N.; Mateus, O. (2013). "Osteology of the Late Jurassic Portuguese sauropod dinosaur Lusotitan atalaiensis (Macronaria) and the evolutionary history of basal titanosauriforms". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 168: 98–206. doi:10.1111/zoj.12029.
2. Fernández-Baldor, F. T.; Canudo, J. I.; Huerta, P.; Moreno-Azanza, M.; Montero, D. (2017). "Europatitan eastwoodi, a new sauropod from the lower Cretaceous of Iberia in the initial radiation of somphospondylans in Laurasia". PeerJ. 5: e3409. doi:10.7717/peerj.3409. PMC 5490465. PMID 28674644.