Pronunciation: SOH-ro-PO-duh
Author: Marsh
Year: 1878
Meaning: Lizard feet (see etymology)
Locomotion: Quadrupedal (four legs)
Synonyms: Opisthocoelia (Owen, 1860), Cetiosauria (Seeley, 1870), Diplodocia (Tornier, 1913)
Author: Marsh
Year: 1878
Meaning: Lizard feet (see etymology)
Locomotion: Quadrupedal (four legs)
Synonyms: Opisthocoelia (Owen, 1860), Cetiosauria (Seeley, 1870), Diplodocia (Tornier, 1913)
[Sereno 2005]Definition
The most inclusive clade containing Saltasaurus loricatus but not Jingshanosaurus xinwaensis and Mussaurus patagonicus.
About
Sauropoda is a group of herbivorous saurischian dinosaurs that lived from the earliest Jurassic to the latest Cretaceous and are characeterized by their long necks and long tails, relatively small skulls and tiny brains, and four erect legs reminiscent of modern elephant's.
The smaller species, at around 5-6 meters in length and 4 tons in weight, were still most likely the largest creatures in their eco-system. But some sauropods (members of Sauropoda) attained enourmous size and mass and were the largest animals to ever walk the earth.
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Etymology
Sauropoda is derived from the Greek "sauros" (lizard) and "pod-" (foot), based on O.C. Marsh's assumption that sauropod feet were "plantigrade" (toe to heel, flat to the ground) with splayed toes like those of a lizard.
Surprisingly for such rotund creatures, sauropods actually walked on their tippy-toes, just like modern elephants.
Relationships
Further reading
• Buffetaut E, Suteethorn V, Cuny G, Haiyan Tong H, Le Loeuff J, Khansubha S and Jongautchariyakul S (2000) "The earliest known sauropod dinosaur". Nature, 407 (6800): 72–74. DOI: 10.1038/35024060
• Upchurch P, Barrett PM and Dodson P (2004) "Sauropoda". In Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
• Wilson JA (2002) "Sauropod dinosaur phylogeny:
critique and cladistic analysis". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 136: 217–276
• Curry Rogers KA and Wilson JA (2005) "The Sauropods: Evolution and Paleobiology".
• Tidwell V and Carpenter K (2005) "Thunder Lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs".
• Taylor MP (2010) "Sauropod dinosaur research: a historical review". In Moody, Buffetaut, Martill and Naish (eds.) "Dinosaurs and other extinct saurians: a historical perspective".
• Klein N (2011) "Biology of the Sauropod Dinosaurs: Understanding the Life of Giants".
• Sander PM, Christian A, Clauss M, Fechner R, Gee CT, Griebeler E-M, Gunga H-C, Hummel J, Mallison H, Perry SF et al. (2011) "Biology of the sauropod dinosaurs: the evolution of gigantism". Biological Reviews, 86(1): 117–155. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00137.x
• Sellers WI, Margetts L, Coria RAB and Manning PL (2013) "March of the Titans: The Locomotor Capabilities of Sauropod Dinosaurs". PLOS ONE. 8 (10): e78733. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078733
• Hallett M and Wedel M (2016) "The Sauropod Dinosaurs: Life in the Age of Giants".
• Molina-Pérez R and Larramendi A (2020) "Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: The Sauropods" [Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Sauropods and Other Sauropodomorphs].
• Stevens KA, Ernst S and Marty D (2022) "Coupling length: a generalized gleno-acetabular distance measurement for interpreting the size and gait of quadrupedal trackmakers". Swiss Journal of Geosciences 115: 18
DOI: 10.1186/s00015-022-00418-9
• Otero A, Carballido JL and Pol D (2022) "South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs: Record, Diversity and Evolution".
• Sander PM (2023) "Sauropods". Current Biology, 33(2): R52-R58.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.024.
• Lei R, Tschopp E, Hendrickx C, Wedel MJ, Norell MA and Hone DWE (2023) "Bite and tooth marks on sauropod dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation". PeerJ, 11: e16327.
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16327.
