Somphospondyli

Somphospondyli is an extinct clade of titanosauriform sauropods that lived from the Late Jurassic until the end of the Late Cretaceous. The remains of somphospondylans have been discovered in all seven continents.

Somphospondylans Temporal range: Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, 158–66 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:	†Eusauropoda
Clade:	†Neosauropoda
Clade:	†Macronaria
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]

The following cladogram demonstrates the results of 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 dixeyi     †Nemegtosauridae   †Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis       †Rapetosaurus krausei       †Tapuiasaurus macedoi     †Isisaurus colberti         †Saltasauridae   †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.