Sauropodiformes

Sauropodiformes is an extinct clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs that includes the animals more closely related to Sauropoda than prosauropods like Massospondylus and Plateosaurus. It was named in 2007 by Paul Sereno.^[1] Below is a cladogram of basal sauropodomorpha after Apaldetti and colleagues, 2021.^[2]

	Massopoda Riojasauridae Massospondylidae Sauropodiformes Yunnanosaurus Seitaad Chuxiongosaurus Jingshanosaurus Xingxiulong Anchisauria Anchisaurus Leonerasaurus Sauropodiformes Mussaurus Aardonyx Irisosaurus Melanorosaurus Sauropoda Lessemsauridae Pulanesaura Gongxianosaurus Schleitheimia Isanosaurus Sauropoda Vulcanodon Eusauropoda sensu stricto sensu lato sensu stricto sensu lato

Sauropodiformes Temporal range: Late Triassic - Late Cretaceous, 228–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeleton of Jingshanosaurus xinwaensis at the Miami Science Museum
Lessemsaurus sauropoides
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Massopoda
Clade:	†Sauropodiformes Sereno, 2007
Subgroups
Sauropodiformes sensu McPhee et al., 2013 †Chuxiongosaurus? †Jingshanosaurus †Lishulong †Qianlong †Seitaad †Xingxiulong †Yunnanosaurus †Anchisauria Galton & Upchurch, 2004 †Anchisaurus †Lamplughsaura †Leonerasaurus †Sauropodiformes sensu Sereno, 2007 †Aardonyx †Irisosaurus †Mussaurus †Sefapanosaurus †Yizhousaurus †Lessemsauridae? †Melanorosauridae †Sauropoda Sauropodiformes incertae sedis †Amygdalodon †Isanosaurus †Kotasaurus †Meroktenos

Anchisauria is a smaller clade within Sauropodiformes. The name Anchisauria was first used Haekel and defined by Galton and Upchurch in the second edition of The Dinosauria.^[3][4] It is a node-based taxon containing the most recent common ancestor of Anchisaurus polyzelus and Melanorosaurus readi, and all its descendants.^[5] 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.

However, research has since indicated that Anchisaurus is closer to sauropods than traditional prosauropods; thus, Anchisauria would by definition also include Sauropoda.^[6]

See also

• List of sauropod species