Massospondylidae

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.

Massospondylidae

Uncredited · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MassopodaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Diapsida

Time the record covers

At least 52 million years on record.

The record covers at least 227.3 Mya to 174.7 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 168.2 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 121 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 5 of 121 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 115 of 121 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 1 of 121 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic238–236 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences236–234 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences234–231 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences231–229 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences229–226 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences226–224 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences222–219 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences219–217 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences217–215 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences215–212 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences212–210 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences210–207 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences207–205 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences205–203 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences203–200 Mya — about 13 occurrences200–198 Mya — about 28 occurrences198–195 Mya — about 28 occurrences195–193 Mya — about 28 occurrences193–191 Mya — about 5 occurrences191–188 Mya — about 3 occurrences188–186 Mya — about 3 occurrences186–184 Mya — about 2 occurrences184–181 Mya — about 1 occurrence181–179 Mya — about 1 occurrence179–176 Mya — about 1 occurrence176–174 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences174–172 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences172–169 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences169–167 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences227.3 Mya174.7 Mya238 Mya167 Mya

121 occurrences of Massospondylidae on record, most of them in the Early Jurassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

121 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

15 formations

Elliot — 28.51°S, 28.62°EElliot — 28.52°S, 29.17°EElliot — 30.57°S, 27.43°EElliot — 29.50°S, 27.45°EElliot — 28.98°S, 27.37°EElliot — 30.60°S, 27.62°EElliot — 28.53°S, 28.50°EElliot — 29.22°S, 27.34°EElliot — 31.15°S, 26.62°EElliot — 29.13°S, 27.37°EElliot — 29.13°S, 27.33°EElliot — 30.81°S, 27.72°EElliot — 30.62°S, 27.80°EElliot — 28.68°S, 28.32°EElliot — 28.68°S, 28.17°EElliot — 28.55°S, 27.95°EElliot — 28.55°S, 28.38°EElliot — 28.42°S, 28.50°EElliot — 28.62°S, 28.27°EElliot — 28.78°S, 27.23°EElliot — 28.87°S, 27.27°EElliot — 28.90°S, 27.57°EElliot — 28.97°S, 27.32°EElliot — 29.03°S, 27.48°EElliot — 29.07°S, 27.50°EElliot — 29.23°S, 27.35°ELufeng — 25.17°N, 102.08°ELufeng — 24.96°N, 102.08°EMpandi — 22.14°S, 29.51°EMpandi — 22.17°S, 29.49°EMpandi — 22.14°S, 29.56°EElliot — 30.40°S, 27.52°EElliot — 30.08°S, 28.47°EElliot — 30.07°S, 28.38°EElliot — 29.85°S, 27.25°EElliot — 29.85°S, 27.36°EForest Sandstone — 19.89°S, 28.92°EForest Sandstone — 19.97°S, 28.40°EForest Sandstone — 19.98°S, 28.47°EForest Sandstone — 22.14°S, 29.57°EForest Sandstone — 16.81°S, 28.27°EClarens — 29.20°S, 27.45°EClarens — 28.52°S, 27.93°EClarens — 30.83°S, 27.75°EClarens — 28.53°S, 28.50°EKayenta — 35.69°N, 111.29°WKayenta — 35.75°N, 111.08°WLos Colorados — 29.73°S, 68.22°WLos Colorados — 29.78°S, 67.93°WCañon del Colorado — 30.50°S, 68.50°WUpper Karroo Sandstone — 16.23°S, 30.10°EHanson — 84.33°S, 166.45°EDharmaram — 19.26°N, 79.47°EEtjo — 20.39°S, 17.33°EPebbly Arkose — 16.73°S, 28.69°EZiliujing — 29.39°N, 104.82°E

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The named rock units Massospondylidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Massospondylidae and its relatives

Early Jurassic

Where Massospondylidae and its relatives were recorded in the Early Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

83 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 107 sites for Massospondylidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

44 references

Each of the 121 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 32 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Massospondylidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Massospondylidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMassopoda through timeFormations of the Early JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Huene 1914