Dicraeosauridae
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Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods who are the sister group to Diplodocidae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata, along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as Amargasaurus, Suuwassea, Dicraeosaurus, and Brachytrachelopan. Definitive genera of this family have been found in North America, Africa, and South America. The Asian taxa Lingwulong and Tharosaurus have been suggested to be dicraeosaurids, but some authors disagree with this classification. Their temporal range is from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Few dicraeosau
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Classification
- Phylogeny
- Paleobiology
- Feeding behavior
- Anatomy
- Distribution and evolution
- Sources
Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods who are the sister group to Diplodocidae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata, along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as Amargasaurus, Suuwassea, Dicraeosaurus, and Brachytrachelopan. Definitive genera of this family have been found in North America, Africa, and South America. The Asian taxa Lingwulong and Tharosaurus have been suggested to be dicraeosaurids, but some authors disagree with this classification. Their temporal range is from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Few dicraeosaurids survived into the Cretaceous, the youngest of which was Amargasaurus.
The group was first described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914 with the discovery of Dicraeosaurus in Tanzania. Dicraeosauridae are distinct from other sauropods because of their relatively short neck size and small body size.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Dicraeosauridae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.