在南非與賴索托的上艾略特組、克萊倫斯組、布什維爾砂岩組,發現了大椎龍的可能化石;其他地區還有:辛巴威上卡羅砂岩層的森林砂岩組、阿根廷的Cañon del Colorado組或El Tranquilo組、以及亞利桑那州的卡岩塔組。這些化石由至少80個部份骨骸、以及4個頭顱骨所構成,幼年與成年個體都有[7]。在1985年,亞利桑那州卡岩塔組發現一個頭顱骨,可能屬於大椎龍。這個卡岩塔頭顱骨與非洲所發現的最大型頭顱骨相比,還大上25%。前上頜骨具有4顆牙齒,上頜骨有6顆牙齒。齶骨有長約1公厘的迷你牙齒,這在恐龍中相當獨特[18]。在亞利桑那州卡岩塔組發現的頭顱骨,比南非發現的最大頭顱骨,還大上25%[12]。最近,對於非洲大椎龍頭顱骨的重新研究,指出卡岩塔組的標本並不屬於大椎龍[19]。在卡岩塔組發現的頭顱骨與身體骨骼(編號MCZ 8893),已被建立為新屬,莎拉龍(Sarahsaurus)[20]。
阿根廷過去曾發現疑似大椎龍的化石,包含數個部份骨骸,與至少一個頭顱骨,發現於聖胡安省的Cañon del Colorado組,年代為侏羅紀早期[7]。在2009年,這些化石被認為屬於大椎龍的近親,被建立為獨立屬,遠食龍(Adeopapposaurus)[21]。
有數種恐龍常被認為是大椎龍的異名,包括:Aristosaurus、Dromicosaurus、Gryponyx、Hortalotarsus、Leptospondylus、以及Pachyspondylus,這些恐龍的有效性不大,也被視為疑名[16]。Hortalotarsus是由哈利·絲萊在1894年建立,化石包含部份腿骨。根據羅伯特·布魯姆的紀錄,當地農人以為這些身體骨骼屬於布西曼族,因為擔心這些布西曼族骨頭會削弱他們下一代的信仰,這些農人挖到化石時通常會摧毀,而一些腿部化石被搶救。第二年,理察·歐文將一些脊椎命名為Leptospondylus與Pachyspondylus。這些化石都在第二次世界大戰期間遭到摧毀。在1920年,E.C.N. van Hoepen根據一個接近完整的骨骸,建立了Aristosaurus。他另外將一個部份骨骸命名為Dromicosaurus。在1924年,席尼·賀頓命名了Gryponyx,化石為臀部骨頭。以上化石都發現於南非的赫塘階到錫內穆階,約跟大椎龍同一時期[31][32]。根據國際動物命名法規,這些名稱是大椎龍的次同物異名。大椎龍比這些名稱還早出現在科學文獻中,因此大椎龍具有優先權。
大椎龍曾經屬於原蜥腳下目,生存於三疊紀與侏儸紀,並在侏儸紀末期滅亡。原蜥腳下目曾經包含的其他著名屬:板龍[7]、雲南龍[7]、與里奧哈龍[35]。基礎蜥腳形亞目的系統發生學仍在爭論中,根據親緣分支分類法,一個天然演化支應包含牠們的共同祖先與其共同祖先的所有後代,所以許多過去被認為是典型基礎蜥腳類的物種,因為無法與原有物種構成一天然演化支,近年被排除在原蜥腳下目之外。但哪些物種構成原蜥腳類為一個單系群,仍不確定。在2003年,亞當·耶茨(Adam Yates)與詹姆斯·基欽(James Kitching)公佈了一個演化支,包含:里奧哈龍、板龍、科羅拉多斯龍、大椎龍、以及祿豐龍[36]。在2004年,彼得·加爾東(Peter M.Galton)與保羅·阿普徹奇(Paul Upchurch)則將原蜥腳下目列為單系群,包含:砂龍、近蜥龍、愛珍多龍、卡米洛特龍、科羅拉多斯龍、優肢龍、金山龍、萊森龍、祿豐龍、大椎龍、黑丘龍、鼠龍、板龍、里奧哈龍、呂勒龍、農神龍、鞍龍、槽齒龍、易門龍、以及雲南龍[7]。在2005年,傑佛瑞·威爾森(Jeffrey A. Wilson)提出大椎龍、金山龍、板龍、與祿豐龍,形成一個天然演化支,可能還有貝里肯龍、雷前龍等蜥腳類恐龍[37]。在2007年,Matthew F. Bonnan與耶茨提出卡米洛特龍、貝里肯龍、黑山龍可能屬於蜥腳下目[38]。同樣在2007年,耶茨將雷前龍、黑丘龍、貝里肯龍歸類為基礎蜥腳類恐龍,而且認為原蜥腳下目是板龍科的異名,而沒有使用這分類。但耶茨並沒有排除少部份原蜥腳類構成一個單系群的可能性,這些成員包含板龍、里奧哈龍、大椎龍、以及牠們的最近親[34]。
大椎龍是大椎龍科的模式屬,該科名稱即來自於大椎龍。大椎龍科可能包含雲南龍[39],但在2007年,Lu等人將雲南龍列入個別的雲南龍科[40]。在2007年,耶茨提出近蜥龍類,而大椎龍科的大椎龍、科羅拉多斯龍、祿豐龍,以及雲南龍屬於近蜥龍類[34]。同樣在2007年,納森·史密斯(Nathan D. Smith)與迪亞戈·玻爾(Diego Pol)在他們的系統發生學研究中,將大椎龍、科羅拉多斯龍、祿豐龍、以及他們新建的冰河龍(Glacialisaurus),列入大椎龍科中[41]。數個發現於阿根廷的疑似大椎龍化石,被建立為新屬,遠食龍與萊氏龍,都屬於大椎龍科[21][42]。發現於印度的Pradhania,最初被認為是種原始蜥腳形亞目恐龍;在2011年的親緣分支分類法研究,發現Pradhania是種相當原始的大椎龍科恐龍。Pradhania有兩個大椎龍科的共有衍徵,Pradhania、M. hislopi的化石都發現於印度的相同地理區域[43]。
大椎龍屬於基礎蜥腳類,基礎蜥腳類恐龍可能是植食性或雜食性動物。在80年代,科學家們開始爭論基礎蜥腳類是肉食性的可能性[16][18]。但是,基礎蜥腳類是肉食性的假說已被否定,所有的近年研究傾向於基礎蜥腳類是植食性或雜食性。在2004年,加爾東與阿普徹奇發現大部分基礎蜥腳類的頭部特徵(例如頜部關節),較類似植食性爬蟲類,而非肉食性爬蟲類;牙齒形狀類似現代鬣蜥,而鬣蜥為植食性或雜食性動物。牠們的齒冠最寬處大於齒根寬度,形成切割用邊緣,類似現代植食性或雜食性爬蟲類的牙齒[7]。在2000年,保羅·巴雷特(Paul M. Barrett)提出基礎蜥腳類除了以植物為食外,還會以小型動物或屍體補充食物[54]。曾經在南非的大椎龍化石附近發現胃石[12],維吉尼亞州的三疊紀晚期地層曾一個類似大椎龍的化石,也發現胃石[50]。顯示大椎龍吞下石頭以協助消化[12]。
(英文)Seebacher, Frank. A new method to calculate allometric length-mass relationships of dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 2001, 21 (1): 51–60.
(英文),, Matthew; Phil Senter. Were the basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs Plateosaurus and Massospondylus habitual quadrupeds?. Paul M. Barrett & D. J. Batten (eds.) (編). Evolution and Palaeobiology of Early Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Special Papers in Palaeontology 77. London: The Palaeontological Association. 2007: 139–155. ISBN 978-1-4051-6933-2. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Yates, Adam M.; and Vasconcelos, Cecilio C. Furcula-like clavicles in the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 2005, 25 (2): 466–468. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Gow, Christoper E.; J.W. Kitching and Michael K. Raath. Skulls of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus Owen in the collections of the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research. Palaeontologia Africana. 1990, 27: 45–58. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Galton, Peter M. Comments on sexual dimorphism in the prosauropod dinosaur Plateosaurus engelhardti (Upper Triassic, Trossingen). Neus Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte. 1997, 11: 674–682.
(英文)Crompton, A.W.; John Attridge. Masticatory apparatus of the larger herbivores during Late Triassic and Early Jurassic times. Kevin Padian (ed.) (編). The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs: Faunal Change Across the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1986: 223–236. ISBN 0-521-36779-4. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)"Massospondylus." In: Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International, LTD. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-7853-0443-2.
(英文)Owen, Richard (1854). "Descriptive catalogue of the Fossil organic remains of Reptilia and Pisces contained in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England." London p. 1–184 OCLC14825172
Yates, Adam M.; Paul M. Barrett. Massospondylus carinatus Owen 1854 (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa: Proposed conservation of usage by designation of a neotype. Palaeontologia Africana. 2010, 45: 7–10. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Cooper, M.R. The prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus Owen from Zimbabwe: its biology, mode of life and phylogenetic significance. Occasional Papers of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia, Series B, Natural Sciences. 1980, 6 (10): 689–840.
(英文)Attridge, J.; A.W. Crompton and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr. The southern Liassic prosauropod Massospondylus discovered in North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 1985, 5 (2): 128–132. doi:10.1080/02724634.1985.10011850. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Sues, H.-D.; R.R. Reisz, S. Hinic and M.A. Raath. On the skull of Massospondylus carinatus Owen, 1854 (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Elliot and Clarens formations (Lower Jurassic) of South Africa. Annals of Carnegie Museum. 2004, 73 (4): 239–257. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
Martínez, Ricardo N. Adeopapposaurus mognai, gen. et sp. nov (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha), with comments on adaptations of basal sauropodomorpha. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 2009, 29 (1): 142–164.
(英文)Barrett, P. M. A new basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Upper Elliot Formation (Lower Jurassic) of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 2009, 29 (4): 1032–1045. doi:10.1671/039.029.0401.
(英文)Seeley, H.G. On the type of the genus Massospondylus and on some Vertebrae and limb-bone of M. (?) browni. Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 1895, 15: 102–125.
(英文)Weishampel, David B. Dinosaur distribution. David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson and Halszka Osmólska (eds.) (編). The Dinosauria 1st ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1990: 63–139. ISBN 0-520-06727-4. 引文格式1維護:冗餘文本 (link)
(英文)Weishampel, David B.; Paul M. Barrett, Rodolfo Coria, A., Jean Le Loeuff, Zhao Xijin Xu Xing, Ashok Sahni, Elizabeth M.P. Gomani and Christopher R. Noto. Dinosaur Distribution. David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson and Halszka Osmólska (eds.) (編). The Dinosauria 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2004: pp. 517–606. ISBN 0-520-24209-2. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助) 引文格式1維護:冗餘文本 (link)
(英文)Yates, Adam M., "The first complete skull of the Triassic dinosaur Melanorosaurus Haughton (Sauropodomorpha: Anchisauria)". In Barrett & Batten (eds.), Evolution and Palaeobiology (2007), pp. 9–55.
(英文)Galton, P.M; J. Van Heerden and A.M. Yates. Postcranial anatomy of referred specimens of the sauropodomorph dinosaur Melanorosaurus from the Upper Triassic of South Africa. Virginia Tidwell and Kenneth Carpenter (eds.) (編). Thunder-Lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2005: pp. 1–37. ISBN 0-253-34542-1. 引文使用過時參數coauthor (幫助) 引文格式1維護:冗餘文本 (link)
(英文)Yates, Adam M.; James W. Kitching. The earliest known sauropod dinosaur and the first steps towards sauropod locomotion. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2003, 270 (1525): 1753–1758. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2417. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Wilson, Jeffrey A.; Curry Rogers, Kristina. The Sauropods: Evolution and Paleobiology. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2005: pp. 15–49. ISBN 978-0-520-24623-2. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助) 引文格式1維護:冗餘文本 (link)
(英文)Bonnan, Matthew F. and Adam M. Yates, "A new description of the forelimbs of the basal sauropodomorph Melanorosaurus: implications for the evolution of pronation, manus shape and quadrupedalism in sauropod dinosaurs". In Barrett & Batten (eds.), Evolution and Palaeobiology (2007), pp. 157–168.
(英文)Lu, J.; T. Li, S. Zhong, Y. Azuma, M. Fujita, Z Dong and Q. Ji. New yunnanosaurid dinosaur (Dinosauria, Prosauropoda) From the Middle Jurassic Zhanghe Formation of Yuanmou, Yunnan province of China. Memoir of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. 2007, 6: 1–15. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Fernando E. Novas, Martin D. Ezcurra, Sankar Chatterjee and T. S. Kutty. New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of central India. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 2011, 101 (3-4): 333–349. doi:10.1017/S1755691011020093.
(英文)Russell, Dale A. An Odyssey in Time: Dinosaurs of North America. Minocqua, Wisconsin: NorthWord Press. 1989: p. 45. ISBN 1-55971-038-1. 引文格式1維護:冗餘文本 (link)
(英文)Holtz, Thomas R., Jr.; Chapman, Ralph E.; Lamanna, Matthew C. Mesozoic biogeography of Dinosauria. Weishampel, David B; Dodson, Peter (編). The Dinosauria 2nd. University of California Press. 2004: 627–642. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.
(英文)Paul, Gregory S. Coelophysis rhodesiensis. Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1988: pp. 262–265. ISBN 978-0-6716-1946-6. 引文格式1維護:冗餘文本 (link)
(英文)Yates, A.M. A new theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa and its implications for the early evolution of theropods. Palaeontologia africana. 2006, 41: 105–122.
(英文)Weems, Robert E.; Michelle J. Culp and Oliver Wings. Evidence for Prosauropod Dinosaur Gastroliths in the Bull Run Formation (Upper Triassic, Norian) of Virginia. Ichnos. 2007, 13 (3–4): 271–295. doi:10.1080/10420940601050030. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Reisz, Robert R.; Diane Scott, Hans-Dieter Sues, David C. Evans, and Michael A. Raath. Embryos of an Early Jurassic prosauropod dinosaur and their evolutionary significance. Science. 2005, 309 (5735): 761–764. Bibcode:2005Sci...309..761R. PMID 16051793. doi:10.1126/science.1114942. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Barrett, P.M. Prosauropod dinosaurs and iguanas: Speculations on the diets of extinct reptiles. Hans-Dieter Sues (編). Evolution of Herbivory in Terrestrial Vertebrates: Perspectives from the Fossil Record. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2000: pp. 42–78. ISBN 978-0-521-59449-3. 引文格式1維護:冗餘文本 (link)
(英文)Reisz, Robert R.; David C. Evans, Eric M. Roberts, Hans-Dieter Sues, and Adam M. Yates. Oldest known dinosaurian nesting site and reproductive biology of the Early Jurassic sauropodomorph Massospondylus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2012, 109 (7): 2428–2433. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.2428R. doi:10.1073/pnas.1109385109. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)O'Connor, Patrick M.; Leon P.A.M. Claessens. Basic avian pulmonary design and flow-through ventilation in non-avian theropod dinosaurs. Nature. 2006, 436 (7048): 253–256. Bibcode:2005Natur.436..253O. PMID 16015329. doi:10.1038/nature03716. 引文使用過時參數coauthors (幫助)
(英文)Chinsamy, A. Ontogenetic growth of the dinosaurs Massospondylus carinatus and Syntarsus rhodesiensis". In: Abstracts of papers. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, fifty-second annual meeting. Royal Ontario Museum Toronto, Ontario. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 1992, 12 (3): 23A.
(英文)Gow, C. E. Morphology and growth of the Massospondylus braincase (Dinosauria, Prosauropoda). Palaeontologia Africana. 1990, 27: 59–75.
(英文)Hinic, S. (2002). "The cranial anatomy of Massospondylus carinatus Owen, 1854 and its implications for prosauropod phylogeny". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Abstracts of papers. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22, Supplement to number 3, 65A.
(英文)Martínez, R. (1999). "The first South American record of Massospondylus (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Abstracts of papers. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20–23 October, 19, Suppl. 3, 61A.
(英文)Martínez, R.N. (1999). "Massospondylus (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) in northwestern Argentina". Abstracts VII International Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems, Buenos Aires, 40.