Scientific name Anchisauria | Phylum Chordata Clade †Sauropodiformes Higher classification Plateosauria | |
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Lower classifications Sauropoda, Anchisaurus, Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus | ||
The Anchisauria were a clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs that lived during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. The name Anchisauria was first used by Galton and Upchurch in the second edition of The Dinosauria. Galton and Upchurch assigned two families of dinosaurs to the Anchisauria: the Anchisauridae and the Melanorosauridae. The more common prosauropods Plateosaurus and Massospondylus were placed in the sister clade Plateosauria.
However, recent research indicates that Anchisaurus is closer to sauropods than traditional prosauropods; thus, Anchisauria would also include Sauropoda.
The following cladogram simplified after an analysis presented by Blair McPhee and colleagues in 2014.
References
Anchisauria Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA