Chapter objectives

• Introduce Sauropodomorpha

• Develop familiarity with current thinking about lifestyles and behaviors of sauropodomorphs

• Develop an understanding of sauropodomorph evolution using cladograms, and an understanding of the place of Sauropodomorpha within Dinosauria

Sauropodomorpha

Life as “large”

Sauropodomorphs (sauros – lizard; pod – foot; morpho – form) were extremely large, not too bright, and now extinct. Isn't that what dinosaurs are all about?

But what about mighty and majestic? These dinosaurs pushed the extremes of terrestrial body size – to the tune of 75,000 kg and possibly more (Figure 8.1, p. 159). In doing so, they taxed biomechanical and physiological design – weight support, neural circuitry, respiration, digestion, everything – to the limit. Viewed from that perspective, sauropods were some of the most sophisticated animals that ever walked the face of the Earth.

Sauropodomorphs lived for 160 million years, from the beginning of dinosaur history until its close. Over this long interval, sauropodomorphs managed to walk or be carried to every continent (Figure 8.2), and spawned well over a hundred different species.

Who are sauropodomorphs?

Sauropodomorpha is a well-diagnosed group of saurischian dinosaurs (Figure 8.3). The group of dinosaurs that look like “brontosaurus” – Sauropoda – are but one part Sauropodomorpha; the other consists of a relatively short-lived clade: Prosauropoda (pro – before; see Figures 4.5 and 8.4). Sauropodomorphs are split roughly onethird to two-thirds between prosauropods and sauropods.