A Giant Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa and the Transition to Quadrupedality in Early Sauropodomorphs

@article{McPhee2018AGD,
  title={A Giant Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa and the Transition to Quadrupedality in Early Sauropodomorphs},
  author={Blair Wayne McPhee and Roger B. J. Benson and Jennifer Botha-Brink and Emese M. Bordy and Jonah N. Choiniere},
  journal={Current Biology},
  year={2018},
  volume={28},
  pages={3143-3151.e7}
}
View on Elsevier
cell.com
61 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
8
Background Citations
22
Methods Citations
6
Results Citations
6

Figures from this paper

61 Citations

Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs from South America: The origin and diversification of dinosaur dominated herbivorous faunas

A Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria, Saurischia) Specimen from the Upper Triassic of Southern Brazil and the Early Increase in Size in Sauropodomorpha

ABSTRACT Whereas sauropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods were the largest land animals that ever lived, some of their early relatives evolved relatively large bodies during the…

Sauropodomorph evolution across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary: body size, locomotion, and their influence on morphological disparity

Modifications in the locomotion and the successive increase in body mass seem to be the main attributes driving sauropodomorph morphospace distribution during the Late Triassic and earliest Jurassic.

Ngwevu intloko: a new early sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa and comments on cranial ontogeny in Massospondylus carinatus

Ngwevu intloko, a new genus of upper Elliot basal sauropodomorph is named on the basis of a complete skull and partial skeleton previously assigned to Massospondylus carinatus, which reveals that BP/1/4779 had nearly reached adult size at the time of its death at a minimum age of 10 years.

Reassessment of Unaysaurus tolentinoi (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic (early Norian) of Brazil, with a consideration of the evidence for monophyly within non-sauropodan sauropodomorphs

Although strong anatomical evidence for monophyletic divergences amongst early sauropodomorphs remains elusive, the relatively low stratigraphical occurrence of Unaysaurus demonstrates that the typical ‘prosauropod’ bauplan – and hence habitual herbivory – had evolved by the early Norian.

The oldest ceratosaurian (Dinosauria: Theropoda), from the Lower Jurassic of Italy, sheds light on the evolution of the three-fingered hand of birds

Compared to the atrophied hand of later members of Ceratosauria, Saltriovenator demonstrates that a fully functional hand, well-adapted for struggling and grasping, was primitively present in ceratosaurians.

The elongated neck of sauropodomorph dinosaurs evolved gradually.

Discoveries from South America have increased our knowledge on the early evolutionary history of sauropodomorph dinosaurs. The dietary shift from faunivorous to herbivorous creatures and the…

Re-Assessment of the Late Jurassic Eusauropod Dinosaur Hudiesaurus sinojapanorum Dong, 1997, from the Turpan Basin, China, and the Evolution of Hyper-Robust Antebrachia in Sauropods

Phylogenetic analyses confirm that Hudiesaurus is a CMT and the sister taxon of Xinjiangtitan, and links the convergent evolution of robust antebrachia and an enlarged olecranon in CMTs, titanosaurs, and some ornithischians to a more flexed orientation of the forearm, an enhanced role for the forelimb in locomotion, and an anterior shift in the whole-body center of mass.

Extinction of herbivorous dinosaurs linked to Early Jurassic global warming event

It is shown that eusauropod dominance was established after a massive magmatic event impacting southern Gondwana and coincided with severe perturbations to the climate and a drastic decrease in the floral diversity characterized by the rise of conifers with small scaly leaves.

Rapid growth preceded gigantism in sauropodomorph evolution

...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 85 REFERENCES

A new transitional sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa and the evolution of sauropod feeding and quadrupedalism

Cursorial ability appears to have been reduced and the weight bearing axis of the pes shifted to a medial, entaxonic position, falsifying the hypothesis that entaxony evolved in sauropods only after an obligate quadrupedal gait had been adopted.

A new basal sauropod from the pre-Toarcian Jurassic of South Africa: evidence of niche-partitioning at the sauropodomorph–sauropod boundary?

Key changes in the dentition, axial skeleton and forelimb of this new species suggest a genuine functional distinction occurring at the sauropodiform-sauropod boundary, which may partially explain the rarity of true sauropods in the basal rocks of the Jurassic.

A hyper-robust sauropodomorph dinosaur ilium from the Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa: Implications for the functional diversity of basal Sauropodomorpha

Semiaquatic adaptations in a giant predatory dinosaur

Adaptations for a semiaquatic lifestyle in the dinosaur Spinosaurus aegyptiacus are described, including retraction of the fleshy nostrils to a position near the mid-region of the skull and an elongate neck and trunk that shift the center of body mass anterior to the knee joint.

A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina

Background Argentinean basal sauropodomorphs are known by several specimens from different basins; Ischigualasto, El Tranquilo, and Mogna. The Argentinean record is diverse and includes some of the…

Postcranial Anatomy and Phylogenetic Relationships of Mussaurus patagonicus (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha)

The postcranial anatomy of four specimens of basal sauropodomorphs from the Late Triassic of Patagonia, Argentina are described and identified as adult individuals of Mussaurus patagonicus, which is recovered as a non-sauropod anchisaurian and is depicted outside the ‘quadrupedal clade’.

Anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of Tazoudasaurus naimi (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the late Early Jurassic of Morocco

The complete osteology of the basal sauropod Tazoudasaurus naimi from the late Early Jurassic Toundoute continental series of Ouarzazate Province, Morocco, is presented. The described material…

REVISION OF THE TENDAGURU SAUROPOD DINOSAUR TORNIERIA AFRICAN A (FRAAS) AND ITS RELEVANCE FOR SAUROPOD PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY

In a phylogenetic analysis, the African form consistently emerges as the sister taxon to Barosaurus+Diplodocus, and previous suggestions that Tornieria africana is the available name for this taxon are supported by this analysis.

A Second Species of Eucnemesaurus Van Hoepen, 1920 (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha): New Information on the Diversity and Evolution of the Sauropodomorph Fauna of South Africa's Lower Elliot Formation (Latest Triassic)

A cladistic analysis confirms the monophyly of Eucnemesaurus, as well as its continued inclusion within the low-diversity ‘Riojasauridae,’ and highlights continued uncertainties regarding the constituency of the Riojasaurus hypodigm.

The sauropodomorph biostratigraphy of the Elliot Formation of southern Africa: Tracking the evolution of Sauropodomorpha across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary

The latest Triassic is notable for coinciding with the dramatic decline of many previously dominant groups, followed by the rapid radiation of Dinosauria in the Early Jurassic. Among the most common…
...