Riojasauridae
| Riojasaurids | |
|---|---|
| |
| Riojasaurus skull cast | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Massopoda |
| Clade: | †Riojasauridae Yates, 2007 |
| Genera | |
Riojasauridae is an extinct
Evolutionary relationships
The Riojasauridae are considered to be sauropodomorphs, but not sauropods themselves. This means that they were generally much smaller than the Sauropods of the
quadrupeds, the way more derived Sauropods were. The relationships of this family within other sauropodomorphs has been considered by studies in 2007[1] and 2020[2]
with slightly different results.
The cladogram below shows basal sauropodomorph relationships simplified after Yates, 2007. In this analysis, Riojasauridae was recovered as the earliest-diverging lineage of the clade Massopoda, and represents a sister group to the node formed by Massospondylidae, the genus Jingshanosaurus and the Anchisauria.[1]
The following cladogram is from a phylogenetic analysis by Peyre de Fabrègues et al., 2020. Here, Riojasauridae was placed in a more derived position, lying closer to
out group to the clade formed by the genus Seitaad and the Sauropodiformes.[2] The Massospondylidae and the taxa considered to be related to the family by Yates, are shown to be represent more primitive lineages.[2]
| Massopoda |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ .
- ^ PMC 7335049.