Sauropodomorpha is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had long necks and tails, were quadrupedal, and became the largest animals to ever walk the Earth. The prosauropods, which preceded the sauropods, were smaller and were often able to walk on two legs. The sauropodomorphs were the dominant terrestrial herbivores throughout much of the Mesozoic Era, from their origins in the Late Triassic until their decline and extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.
Thecodontosaurus is a genus of herbivorous basal sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived during the late Triassic period.
Melanorosaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic period. An omnivore from South Africa, it had a large body and sturdy limbs, suggesting it moved quadrupedally. Its limb bones were massive and heavy like the limb bones of true sauropods.
Massospondylus is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic. It was described by Sir Richard Owen in 1854 from remains discovered in South Africa, and is thus one of the first dinosaurs to have been named. Fossils have since been found at other locations in South Africa, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. Material from Arizona's Kayenta Formation, India, and Argentina has been assigned to the genus at various times, but the Arizonan and Argentinian material are now assigned to other genera.
Aristosaurus is a dubious genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa. Its only species is A. erectus. Aristosaurus was named by Egbert Cornelis Nicolaas van Hoepen in 1920 based on a nearly complete skeleton found by quarry workers in the Clarens Formation in South Africa, and assigned to the family Anchisauridae. It was later assigned to the genera Gyposaurus and Massospondylus, but has been listed as an indeterminate (dubious) sauropodomorph by two recent reviews. The only specimen might have been a juvenile individual as indicated by its small size. The strongly flattened skeleton, which is preserved on two slabs, is exhibited in the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History in Pretoria.
Euskelosaurus is a sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic of South Africa and Lesotho. Fossils have only been recovered from the lower Elliot Formation in South Africa and Lesotho, and in one locality in Zimbabwe.
Coloradisaurus is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Late Triassic period in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is known from two specimens collected from the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin.
Dromicosaurus is a dubious genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Late Triassic or Early Jurassic of South Africa. Its only species is D. gracilis. Dromicosaurus was named by Egbert Cornelis Nicolaas van Hoepen in 1920 from a fragmentary skeleton he had discovered in the Elliot Formation in Free State. The name, lit. 'quick-walking lizard', alludes to the slender legs compared to related genera such as Eucnemesaurus. Dromicosaurus has repeatedly been considered as a synonym of a species of Massospondylus, but was considered an indeterminate sauropodomorph in the two most recent reviews.
Gryponyx is an extinct genus of massopod sauropodomorph known from southern Free State, central South Africa.
Gyposaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the early Jurassic of South Africa. It is usually considered to represent juveniles of other prosauropods, but "G." sinensis is regarded as a possibly valid species.
Hortalotarsus is a dubious genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa. The only species is H. skirtopodus. Hortalotarsus was described by Harry Seeley in 1894 based on parts of a hind limb discovered in the Clarens Formation near Makhanda, South Africa. Originally, these fossils were part of the larger part of a skeleton, locally known as the 'Bushman fossil', that had been destroyed using gunpowder in an attempt to remove the bones from the encasing slate. In 1906, Robert Broom assigned a second specimen to the species but later gave it a species of its own, Gyposaurus capensis. In 1906, Friedrich von Huene classified Hortalotarsus skirtopodus as a species within the European genus Thecodontosaurus, named Thecodontosaurus skirtopodus. Other authors considered Hortalotarsus skirtopodus as a valid species within the family Anchisauridae, though Michael Cooper synonymised it with Massospondylus carinatus in 1981. The two most recent reviews treated Hortalotarsus as an indeterminate sauropodomorph.
Orosaurus is a dubious genus of basal sauropodomorph from the Late Triassic of South Africa.
Plateosauravus is a basal plateosaurian of uncertain affinities from the Late Triassic Elliot Formation of South Africa.
Teratosaurus is a genus of rauisuchians known from the Triassic Stubensandstein of Germany. It is estimated to be 6.2 meters (20.35 ft) long.
Efraasia is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It was a herbivore which lived during the middle Norian stage of the Late Triassic, around 210 million years ago, in what is now Germany. It was named in 1973 after Eberhard Fraas, who during the early twentieth century collected what were the original type specimens.
Plateosauridae is a family of plateosaurian sauropodomorphs from the Late Triassic of Europe, Greenland, Africa and Asia. Although several dinosaurs have been classified as plateosaurids over the years, the family Plateosauridae is now restricted to Plateosaurus, Yimenosaurus, Euskelosaurus, and Issi. In another study, Yates (2003) sunk Sellosaurus into Plateosaurus. Gresslyosaurus is alternatively considered its own genus or a synonym of Plateosaurus.
Massospondylidae is a family of early massopod dinosaurs that existed in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Antarctica 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. This result supports many previous analyses that tested fewer taxa. 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. 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. Mussaurus and Xixiposaurus may also be included within Massospondylidae.
Anchisauria is an extinct clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs that lived from the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. The name Anchisauria was first used Haekel and defined by Galton and Upchurch in the second edition of The Dinosauria. It is a node-based taxon containing the most recent common ancestor of Anchisaurus polyzelus and Melanorosaurus readi, and all its descendants. Galton and Upchurch assigned a family of dinosaurs to the Anchisauria: the Melanorosauridae. The more common prosauropods Plateosaurus and Massospondylus were placed in the sister clade Plateosauria.
The Melanorosauridae were a family of sauropodomorph dinosaurs which lived during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. The name Melanorosauridae was first coined by Friedrich von Huene in 1929. Huene assigned several families of dinosaurs to the infraorder "Prosauropoda": the Anchisauridae, the Plateosauridae, the Thecodontosauridae, and the Melanorosauridae. Since then, these families have undergone numerous revisions. Galton and Upchurch (2004) considered Camelotia, Lessemsaurus, and Melanorosaurus members of the family Melanorosauridae. A more recent study by Yates (2007) indicates that the melanorosaurids were instead early sauropods.
Ngwevu is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa. The genus contains one species, Ngwevu intloko.
