Eusauropoda

Reconstruction of Mamenchisaurus, copyright DiBgd.

Belongs within: Sauropoda.
Contains: Neosauropoda.

The Eusauropoda is a clade of sauropods that has been defined as the smallest clade containing Shunosaurus and Saltasaurus; it contains almost all sauropods known from the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous (Upchurch et al. 2004). Basal members of the clade include Cetiosaurus from the Middle Jurassic of Europe, which was the first sauropod to be named (albeit under the inital mistaken belief that it was some form of marine reptile).

Characters (from Upchurch et al. 2004): Snout broadly rounded in dorsal view; caudal margin of external naris lying behind caudal margin of antorbital fenestra; lateral plate present on premaxillae, maxillae and dentaries; contact between dorsal ends of maxilla and lacrimal lying at caudodorsal margin of antorbital fenestra; platelike flange of bone present at base of maxillary ascending process; rostral process of quadratojugal at least twice as long as dorsal process; quadratojugal dorsal process expanded dorsoventrally at its tip; prefrontal rostral process absent; transverse width of frontals greater than rostrocaudal length; rostral tip of maxillary process of palatine expanded transversely; ectopterygoid process of pterygoid lying below rostral rim of orbit; diameter of external mandibular fenestra less than 10% of mandible length; tooth crown enamel wrinkled; caudalmost tooth lying beneath antorbital fenestra; at least twelve cervical vertebrae present; height of midcervical neural arches greater than diameter of centrum; caudal margin of caudal cervical neural spines sloping strongly forward in lateral view; dorsal surfaces of sacral plates level with dorsal margin of ilium; first caudal rib linked to neural arch by lamina; carpals blocklike; metacarpals arranged in U-shaped colonnade; manual phalanges (apart from unguals) wider transversely than proximodistally; manual digits II–IV having two or fewer phalanges; dorsal margin of ilium strongly convex in lateral view; ischial peduncle of ilium reduced, long axis of iliac blade sloping craniodorsally in lateral view; middle and distal portions of pubis lying in same plane as proximal part; femoral cranial trochanter absent; medial malleolus of tibia reduced, exposing caudal fossa of astragalus in caudal view; lateral muscle scar present at midlength on fibula; metatarsals II–IV diverging distally; ratio of length to proximal transverse width for metatarsal I 1.5 or less; pedal digit IV with three phalanges; pedal phalanges lacking collateral ligament pits; nonungual pedal phalanges wider transversely than proximodistally; pedal digits II–IV with rudimentary penultimate phalanges; ratio of ungual length to metatarsal length for pedal digit I greater than 1.0; unguals for pedal digits II and III with transversely compressed proximal articular ends.

<==Eusauropoda [Bothrosauropodidae, Cetiosauridae, Ornithopsidae, Somphospondylii]
    |  i. s.: Amygdalodon Cabrera 1947 UBD04
    |           `--A. patagonicus Cabrera 1947 UBD04
    |         Aragosaurus Sanz, Buscalioni et al. 1987 UBD04
    |           `--A. ischiaticus Sanz, Buscalioni et al. 1987 UBD04
    |--Shunosaurus Dong, Zhou & Zhang 1983 R-TCA06, UBD04 [Shunosaurinae]
    |    |--S. lii Dong, Zhou & Zhang 1983 UBD04
    |    `--S. ziliujingensis D07
    `--+--Jobaria Sereno, Beck et al. 1999 R-TCA06, UBD04
       |    `--J. tiguidensis Sereno, Beck et al. 1999 UBD04
       `--+--Atlasaurus Monbaron, Russell & Taquet 1999 R-TCA06, UBD04
          |    `--A. imelakei Monbaron, Russell & Taquet 1999 UBD04
          `--+--+--Neosauropoda R-TCA06
             |  `--Turiasauria R-TCA06
             |       |--Galveosaurus R-TCA06
             |       `--+--Losillasaurus Casanovas, Santafé & Sanz 2001 R-TCA06, UBD04
             |          |    `--L. giganteus Casanovas, Santafé & Sanz 2001 UBD04
             |          `--Turiasaurus Royo-Torres, Cobos & Alcalá 2006 R-TCA06
             |               `--*T. riodevensis Royo-Torres, Cobos & Alcalá 2006 R-TCA06
             `--+--Cetiosaurus Owen 1841 R-TCA06, UM02 [Cetiosaurinae]
                |    |--*C. oxoniensis Phillips 1871 UM02 (see below for synonymy)
                |    |--C. brachyurus (n. d.) UM02
                |    |--C. medius Owen 1842 (n. d.) UM02
                |    `--C. mogrebiensis Lapparent 1955 (n. d.) UBD04
                `--+--Patagosaurus Bonaparte 1979 R-TCA06, UBD04
                   |    `--P. fariasi Bonaparte 1979 UBD04
                   `--+--Barapasaurus Jain, Kutty et al. 1975 R-TCA06, UBD04
                      |    `--B. tagorei Jain, Kutty et al. 1975 UBD04
                      `--Euhelopodidae WS98
                           |  i. s.: Hudiesaurus Dong 1997 Y03, UBD04
                           |           `--H. sinojapanorum Dong 1997 UBD04
                           |--+--Tehuelchesaurus Rich, Vickers-Rich et al. 1999 UBD04
                           |  |    `--T. benitezii Rich, Vickers-Rich et al. 1999 UBD04
                           |  `--+--Cetiosauriscus Huene 1927 RR05, UBD04
                           |     |    |--C. glymptonensis (Phillips 1871) [=Cetiosaurus glymptonensis] UBD04
                           |     |    |--C. greppini D07
                           |     |    `--C. stewarti Charig 1980 [incl. Cetiosaurus leedsi Woodward 1905] UBD04
                           |     `--Omeisaurus Young 1939 R-TCA06, UBD04
                           |          |--*O. junghsiensis Young 1939 WS98, UBD04
                           |          |--O. changshouensis Young 1958 (n. d.) UBD04
                           |          |--O. fuxiensis Dong, Zhou & Zhang 1983 (n. d.) UBD04
                           |          |--O. luoquanensis Li 1988 (n. d.) UBD04
                           |          `--O. tianfuensis He, Li et al. 1984 UBD04
                           `--+--Euhelopus Romer 1956 R-TCA06, UBD04 [=Helopus Wiman 1929 (preoc.) UBD04; Euhelopodinae]
                              |    `--E. zdanskyi (Wiman 1929) [=Helopus zdanskyi] UBD04
                              `--Mamenchisaurus Young 1954 R-TCA06, UBD04 (see below for synonymy)
                                   |--M. anyuensis He, Yang et al. 1996 UBD04
                                   |--M. constructus Young 1954 UBD04
                                   |--M. fuxiensis (Hou, Chao & Chu 1976) (see below for synonymy) UBD04
                                   |--M. hochuanensis Young & Chao 1972 UBD04
                                   |--M. jingyanensis Zhang & Li in Zhang & Chen 1996 UBD04
                                   |--M. sinocanadorum Russell & Zheng 1993 UBD04
                                   `--M. youngi Pi, Ouyang & Ye 1996 UBD04

Nomina nuda: Cetiosaurus epioolithicus UM02
             Cetiosaurus hypoolithicus UM02

*Cetiosaurus oxoniensis Phillips 1871 UM02 [=Cardiodon oxoniensis UM02, Ornithopsis oxoniensis UM02; incl. Cetiosaurus giganteus Owen in Huxley 1870 (n. n.) UBD04, Cetiosaurus longus Owen 1875 UM02, Cetiosauriscus longus UBD04]

Mamenchisaurus Young 1954 R-TCA06, UBD04 [incl. Zigongosaurus Hou, Chao & Chu 1976 UBD04; Mamenchisaurinae]

Mamenchisaurus fuxiensis (Hou, Chao & Chu 1976) [=Zigongosaurus fuxiensis, Zizhongosaurus fuxiensis] UBD04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[RR05] Rauhut, O. W. M., K. Remes, R. Fechner, G. Cladera & P. Puerta. 2005. Discovery of a short-necked sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period of Patagonia. Nature 435: 670–672.

[R-TCA06] Royo-Torres, R., A. Cobos & L. Alcalá. 2006. A giant European dinosaur and a new sauropod clade. Science 314: 1925–1927.

[UBD04] Upchurch, P., P. M. Barrett & P. Dodson. 2004. Sauropoda. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 259–322. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[UM02] Upchurch, P., & J. Martin. 2002. The Rutland Cetiosaurus: the anatomy and relationships of a Middle Jurassic British sauropod dinosaur. Palaeontology 45 (6): 1049–1074.

[WS98] Wilson, J. A., & P. C. Sereno. 1998. Early evolution and higher-level phylogeny of sauropod dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18 (2 Suppl.): 1–68.

[Y03] Yates, A. M. 2003. A new species of the primitive dinosaur Thecodontosaurus (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha) and its implications for the systematics of early dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 1: 1–42.

Last updated: 6 August 2017.