Massospondylidae

Massospondylidae is a family of early massopod dinosaurs^[3][4] that existed in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Antarctica^[5] during the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic periods. Several dinosaurs have been classified as massospondylids over the years. The largest cladistic analysis of early sauropodomorphs, which was presented by Apaldetti and colleagues in November 2011, found Adeopapposaurus, Coloradisaurus, Glacialisaurus, Massospondylus, Leyesaurus and Lufengosaurus to be massospondylids.^[6] This result supports many previous analyses that tested fewer taxa.^[4][7][8][9] However, this analysis found the two recently described North American massopods, Sarahsaurus and Seitaad, and the South African Ignavusaurus to nest outside Massospondylidae, as opposed to some provisional proposals.^[10][11] Earlier in 2011, Pradhania, a sauropodomorph from India, was tested for the first time in a large cladistic analysis and was found to be a relatively basal massospondylid.^[12] Mussaurus and Xixiposaurus may also be included within Massospondylidae.^[13]

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...

Massospondylids Temporal range: Late Triassic – Early Jurassic, 227–176 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
An example of Massospondylidae, Adeopapposaurus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Massopoda
Family:	†Massospondylidae Huene, 1914
Type species
†Massospondylus carinatus Owen, 1854
Genera[1][2]
†Adeopapposaurus? †Coloradisaurus †Glacialisaurus †Hortalotarsus †Ignavusaurus? †Leyesaurus? †Lufengosaurus †Massospondylus †Ngwevu †Pradhania †Sarahsaurus? †Xingxiulong?

Close

In 2019, a specimen previously assigned to Massospondylus from South Africa was re-examined and found to belong to a separate genus that was named Ngwevu.^[14]