Plateosauria

The Plateosauria are a clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs which lived during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. The name Plateosauria was first coined by G. Tornier in 1913. The name fell out of use until the 1980s, when a new generation of paleontologists began using the name again.

Galton and Upchurch (2004) assigned the Plateosauria to Prosauropoda. Within the clade, they assigned the family Plateosauridae, which includes the well-known dinosaur Plateosaurus. Galton and Upchurch also assigned Coloradisaurus, Euskelosaurus, Lufengosaurus, Jingshanosaurus, Massospondylus, Mussaurus, Sellosaurus, and Yunnanosaurus. Some paleontologists consider Massospondylus and its closest relatives in a separate family grouping, the Massospondylidae. Basal sauropodomorph systematics continue to undergo revision.

References

• Galton, P.M & Upchurch, P. (2004). "Prosauropoda". In D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, & H. Osmólska (eds.), The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 232-258.
• Yates, Adam M. (2007), "The first complete skull of the Triassic dinosaur Melanorosaurus Haughton (Sauropodomorpha: Anchisauria)", in Barrett, Paul M. & Batten, David J., Special Papers in Palaeontology, vol. 77, pp. 9–55, ISBN 9781405169332