eusauropoda

    So, I'm trying to represent these things as best I can, but despite being extinct, they aren't letting themselves be pinned down very well. Especially Euhelopus. Have you ever tried to pin down Euhelopus? You'd think it would be easy, but it's a slippery beast.
    Anyway, I had to do something before the Sauropoda page got too large, and this is the result.

<--Eusauropoda
      |--Shunosaurus
      `--+--Cetiosaurus
           |--Patagosaurus
           `--+--"Mamenchisaurus" hochuanensis
                |--"Omeisaurus" tianfuensis
                `--+--Turiasauria
                     |    |--Galveosaurus
                     |    `--+--Losillasaurus
                     |         `--Turiasaurus
                     `--Neosauropoda
                          |-->Macronaria
                          `-->Diplodocoidea

Eusauropoda: The eusauropods are a step more derived compared to the vulcanodontids and their ilk. They have begun to develop very extensive lightening efforts on their verts. Several of the better-known forms (Cetiosaurus, Patagosaurus, and Mamenchisaurus) could form a family on their own.

Taxon or Taxa:		Time/Place:	Comments:
Shunosaurus lii Dong, Zhou, and Zhang, 1983		Bathonian-Callovian (MJ) of China	Shunosaurus is one of the best represented sauropods. Remains pertaining to over twenty individuals have been found, with several skulls. Shunosaurus is a very primitive sauropod, but has one very unique characteristic, a spiky club on the end of its tail. It was once known under the unofficial name "Shuosaurus". The snout widened and rounded with age, from a more prosauropod-like start, and the tooth enamel is apparently less derived than that of Omeisaurus.
Cetiosaurus oxoniensis Phillips, 1871 (genus named in Owen, 1841)		Bathonian (MJ) of England	C. oxoniensis is much better known than the original type of Cetiosaurus (C. medius). Most representations of Cetiosaurus are drawn from this taxon.
Patagosaurus fariasi Bonaparte, 1979		Aalenian-Bathonian (MJ) of Argentina	Known from specimens from a dozen individuals, Patagosaurus is one of the better known basal eusauropods. However, some of the referred material apparently belongs to a different type of sauropod.
"Mamenchisaurus":	"M." hochuanensis Yang and Zhao, 1972 (?including M. sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993)	Oxfordian (LJ) of China	This is the long-necked animal often illustrated for Mamenchisaurus proper. It is better known than the type, and appears to include M. sinocanadorum Russell and Zheng, 1993, which showed that this sort of animal had a short, camarasaurid-like skull, instead of a diplodocid-like skull considered before, to go with the extensive development of diplodocid-like skid-like chevrons in this species. A sort of trough is also present on top of the neural spines, as well as in Euhelopus and possibly Tienshanosaurus.
	"M." youngi Pi, Ou, and Ye, 1996		"M." youngi, based on material including a skull and most of a skeleton, may well turn out to belong to "M." hochuanensis, so I'm including it here. It has bifurcated neural spines on some cervicals and dorsals, in the Euhelopus "low trough" mode, and the presacrals are opisthocoelous, while the caudals go from procoelous to amphiplatyan; unfortunately, the chevrons are not described. The skull bears an uncanny resemblance to some specimens of Camarasaurus. Interestingly, the distal caudals are fused and expanded, like a "cockscomb," or the tail implements of things like Shunosaurus.
"Omeisaurus" tianfuensis He, Li, Cai, and Gao, 1984		Bathonian-Callovian (MJ) of China	This is the dinosaur often used for illustrations of Omeisaurus, which is incorrect. Just comparing the skulls of this and the type species of Omeisaurus shows how much this is wrong (either that, or an artist was in the wrong field). This appears to be a very long-necked animal.

Taxon or Taxa:	Time/Place:	Comments:
Amygdalodon patagonicus Cabrera, 1947	?Toarcian-Bajocian (?EJ-MJ) of Argentina	Amygdalodon is based on partial remains of at least three individuals. These remains are "cetiosaurid", but not particularly enlightening about further classification.
Bellusaurus sui Dong, 1990	mid Bathonian-late Callovian (MJ) of China	This sauropod is based upon the remains of 17 juveniles, and likely is the juvenile of an already-known sauropod. It could be a basal macronarian, related to the brachiosaurids.
"Bothriospondylus" madagascariensis Lydekker, 1895	Bathonian (MJ) of Madagascar; late Oxfordian (LJ) of France	"Bothriospondylus" madagascariensis has a complicated history. The true Madagascar stuff is often mixed up with Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis, which unfortunately has the same species name. It appears that there were three contemporaneous genera in the Bathonian of Madagascar (Archaeodontosaurus, "Bothriospondylus", and Lapparentosaurus), although a name has not yet been given to the "Bothriospondylus" material. Meanwhile, remains from somewhat younger rocks in France have also been referred to this species. These may also be diagnostic, and appear to have come from a brachiosaurid.
Cetiosauriscus stewarti Huene, 1927 (species after Charig, 1980)	mid-late Callovian (MJ) of England	Named from remains once assigned to Cetiosaurus, this animal may instead be a basal diplodocoid, or, alternatively, a much more basal sauropod. Among other things, it has the characteristic chevrons.
?"Cetiosaurus" glymptonensis (?N.D.) Phillips, 1871	late Bathonian (MJ) of England	Sometimes referred to Cetiosauriscus, there is little evidence to support this. Alternately, it may be a basal diplodocoid, but again there is little evidence to support this. It is based on caudal centra.
Chebsaurus algeriensis Mahammed, Läng, Mami, Mekahl, Benhamou, Bouterfa, Kacemi, Chérief, Chaouati, and Taquet, 2005	MJ of Algeria	This basal eusauropod is based on a partial skeleton and skull of a partially-grown, 8-9 meter long individual (the name is actually from an informal Arab word for "teenager"). It is important because of the generally poor remains of dinosaurs in the EJ and MJ, just when they were undergoing some interesting evolution. Remains include a partial braincase and lower jaw, eight partial cervicals, six partial dorsals, a sacral, three caudals, a scapula, most of a forelimb, a partial ilium, a pubis, a partial fibula, and most of a hind foot.
"Chondrosteosaurus" magnus Owen, 1876	Barremian (EK) of England	This is an indeterminate Wealden eusauropod based on a dorsal, not to be confused with Bothriospondylus magnus (an invalid name for Ornithopsis hulkei).
Daanosaurus zhangi Ye, Gao, and Jiang, 2005	LJ of China	Apparently close to Bellusaurus (not surprisingly, it seems that both are based on juvenile remains), this animal is based on skull and postcranial material including vertebrae and limb elements.
Dashanpusaurus dongi Peng, Ye, Gao, Shu, and Jiang, 2005	Bathonian-Callovian (MJ) of China	This sauropod has been identified as a camarasaurid, but since that family is a little defunct at the moment, I'm leaving it as Eusauropoda i.s., possibly a basal macronarian. Interestingly, both of its published specimens lack skulls, whereas possible basal macronarian Abrosaurus has a poorly-described body with no mentioned characters that deviate from the Dashanpusaurus description... Call that my crazy thought for the page. As mentioned, two specimens have been described, one being a good chunk of the vertebral column with ribs, an ulna, pelvic girdle, and a hindlimb, and the other is composed of 12 dorsals, ribs, left pectoral girdle, and left humerus and radius (neatly filling in the rest of the arm bar the hand, but we can't have everything). Among other characters, the known cervicals are short, and the caudal cervicals and cranial dorsals have slight splitting of the neural spines, like several other MJ/LJ Chinese sauropods.
Dystrophaeus viamalae (?N.D.) Cope, 1877	Callovian-Oxfordian (MJ-LJ) of Utah	Like Amphicoelias, there may be additional material that goes here, in the form of remains seen at what is believed to have been where the type was found. It is historically notable as the first sauropod described from North America. Long believed to have been from low in the Morrison, it actually comes from a somewhat older formation. Usually in the past, it was considered as a "cetiosaurid," then more recently as a possible diplodocoid or diplodocid.
Hudiesaurus sinojapanorum Dong, 1997	Tithonian (LJ) of China	This obscure sauropod is apparently very, very large. The vertebrae it is based on show slight signs of bifurcation, suggesting a relationship with Euhelopus, Mamenchisaurus, and "Mamenchisaurus", which also had shallow bifurcation. Some other material, including a forelimb and teeth, was referred to it, but this material was not in association.
Liubangosaurus hei Mo J., Xu X., and Buffetaut, 2010	EK of China	Liubangosaurus is an eusauropod known from five articulated caudal dorsals.
Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis Dantas, Sanz, Silva, Ortega, Dos Santos, and Cachao, 1998 (originally Apatosaurus alenquerensis Lapparent and Zbyszewski, 1957)	Kimmeridgian-Tithonian (LJ) of Portugal	First named as a species of Apatosaurus, then as a species of Camarasaurus, this species was a robust sauropod that has not yet been subjected to much study, so its placement is uncertain. It is based on 26 verts, most of both girdles, and fore and hind limbs lacking hands and feet.
Oplosaurus armatus (?N.D.) Gervais, 1852	Barremian (EK) of England	This is another poorly known Wealden sauropod, based on a large tooth sometimes ascribed to Pelorosaurus, but which may represent a late turiasaurian. The story of its name goes that it was compared to Hylaeosaurus, and thus the name means "armored lizard". However, it was actually compared to Mosasaurus (giant sea lizard), so the name could mean "armed lizard".
"Ornithopsis" greppini (?N.D.) Huene, 1922	early Kimmeridgian (LJ) of Switzerland	Uh, it's a Swiss dinosaur; you don't see that that often... and nobody ever really talks about it... and it's based on the partial remains of multiple individuals, so maybe if someone looked, it might be useful... and it was once assigned to Cetiosauriscus.
Tendaguria tanzaniensis Bonaparte, Heinrich, and Wild, 2000	Tithonian (LJ) of Tanzania	A new Tendaguru sauropod, Tendaguria is based on cranial dorsal vertebrae with single spines. It seems to be related to Camarasaurus. A dorsal centrum from the Hauterivian-Barremian (EK) of Croatia is similar.
Volkheimeria chubutensis Bonaparte, 1979	Aalenian-Bathonian (MJ) of Argentina	A member of an important early sauropod fauna, Volkheimeria is a primitive sauropod with some features possibly like those of brachiosaurids.
Yuanmousaurus jiangyiensis Lu, Li, Ji Q., Wang G., Zhang J., and Dong, 2006	?MJ of China	This eusauropod is based on a partial skeleton, including a partial cervical, 9 dorsals, parts of 3 sacrals, 7 caudals, both scapulae, an ilium, and most of a right arm and leg (except the hands and feet). It seems to be somewhere between Omeisaurus and Euhelopus. Features of the dorsals and scapulae, and other details, suggest a particularly close relationship with Patagosaurus ("no, actually, they're just good friends"), although Patagosaurus could stand a good redescription before we go too crazy. For an MJ sauropod, it got up to a decent size, in the 15-20 m range long. The authors assigned it to the Euhelopodidae, but we all know what I think about that family.

Turiasauria: This new group of sauropods illustrates an unexpected division in sauropod diversity and clears up problems regarding some of the more poorly-known members, much like Abelisaurus and Carnotaurus did for theropods in the 1980s and 1990s. While only three sauropods are officially members, several other MJ-EK European sauropods are suggested to belong (Cardiodon, Neosodon, Oplosaurus), and more will doubtless be recognized in the coming years.

Historical Note: I used to have a page on Euhelopodidae, also known as the rest home for Jurassic Asian sauropods that people refer to a lot but generally don't know much about. For fun, here's what I had to say, and a phylogeny proposed out of something less than whole cloth.

Euhelopodidae, while not universally accepted, may be a valid family of sauropods. The reason for doubt of their situation probably stems from several things: most of these sauropods have been little mentioned in English-language publications; they have not yet been subjected to the same sort of rigorous examination other dinosaurs have; and they show a wide variety of convergences with other sauropods, such as the long arms of Euhelopus and the long arms of macronarians, the skid-like chevrons of Mamenchisaurus and the skid-like chevrons of diplodocids, and so on. Cases can be made for aligning the members of this group to just about every other sauropod group. Taxonomically, I have problems with many assignments in this family; thus, I typically separate species from genera here. At this point, euhelopodid taxonomy is at a similar place to where taxonomy of Morrison sauropods was about a hundred years ago: uncertain, poorly understood, and cluttered.
Having said that, these sauropods do show many similarities. Long necks and longish arms are a common characteristic, as are skid-like chevrons. The skulls are mostly Camarasaurus-like, boxy and with spoon-like teeth. Some advanced members have shallow troughs on the tops of some of their cervical and dorsal verts' neural spines, converging with the better-developed bifid (split) neural spines of camarasaurids and diplodocoids. Euhelopodids also seem to have done much of their evolution in isolation, in a section of eastern Asia which was cut off from the rest of the world from most of MJ through early EK time (although reports of euhelopodid-type teeth have come from Kansas and the Barremian of Spain). It is not impossible that several distinct lines of sauropods came to China before it was isolated, and that this is the reason for many unusual body plans. For example, Euhelopus could be an early offshoot of the titanosaurian line, Mamenchisaurus an offshoot of the diplodocoid line, and so on. This question has yet to be resolved. The question of where on the sauropod line a unified Euhelopodidae belongs is uncertain as well; three favorite places are just below Neosauropoda, somewhere near the diplodocoids, and twinned with the titanosaurians. I now have them as eusauropods, which seems most conservative.

<--Euhelopodidae
      |--Shunosaurus
      `--+--Datousaurus
           `--Euhelopodinae
                |--Omeisaurus
                |--"Omeisaurus" tianfuensis
                |--?"O." maoianus
              `--+--Tienshanosaurus
                     |--Euhelopus
                     |--?"Omeisaurus" changshouensis
                     |--Mamenchisaurus
                     `--+--"Mamenchisaurus" hochuanensis
                          `--"M" youngi

Taxon or Taxa:	Time/Place:	Comments:
Galveosaurus herreroi Sánchez-Hernández, 2005 (includes Galvesaurus herreroi Barco, Canudo, Cuenca-Bescós, and Ruiz-Omeñaca, 2005)	Tithonian-Berriasian (LJ-EK) of Spain	Galveosaurus seems closest to basal eusauropods like Cetiosaurus and Barapasaurus, although much later than either. It is known from two humeri, a sternal plate, an ischium, a scapula, a cervical, a caudal dorsal, five caudals, a chevron, and some rib bits. The name actually cropped up several years ago in the EuroDino DB Project feature of Dinodata, when it was probably either a manuscript name or museum name (if you peek through museum databases, you'll sometimes find early names that were changed, or names that are unpublished). There has been a controversy here: apparently, Sánchez-Hernández was not the researcher who was working on this taxon, but named it anyway, as Galveosaurus. Meanwhile, members of the research team working on the fossils from this locality, Barco, Canudo, Cuenca-Bescós, and Ruiz-Omeñaca, published Galvesaurus. Sánchez-Hernández has said that her version has priority because it was published on a specific date, and was picked up by the Internet (including this site, which was cited in her appeal) and other publications before Galvesaurus. Galvesaurus was published in a source that claimed July-December 2005 as its issuance, whereas Galveosaurus came out in August.
Losillasaurus giganteus Casanovas, Santafe, and Sanz, 2001	middle Tithonian-early Berriasian (LJ-EK) of Spain	Based on a caudal vert, with cranial fragments, numerous vertebrae, a forelimb, pelvis girdle, and sternal plates referred to it, Losillasaurus was initially described as a diplodocoid, then close to Flagellicaudata. It now appears to be a turiasaurian. It comes from a formation near the J-K boundary, thus the uncertain time given.
Turiasaurus riodevensis Royo-Torres, Cobos, and Alcalá, 2006	Tithonian-Berriasian (LJ-EK) of Spain	I keep note of unpublished dinosaurs and dinosaur research in an offline file, and this one had hung around for a couple of years as "Riodevasaurus". It's extremely large, especially for a European sauropod, and reasonably well-represented across the body. Remains include a partial skull (a fairly deep affair, probably with honking great nares), teeth, a variety of vertebrae, a sternal plate, a left arm and hand, tibia, fibula, and foot, and ribs. Unfortunately, it's hard to get to the eye-catching stats (length, mass) without an idea of the overall proportions. For example, there's not enough vertebrae to know how long the tail was. Did this animal have a long, lean diplodocid-like build, a stocky titanosaur-like build, or a neck-heavy tall brachiosaur-like build, or something different? It also gets to found a whole new sauropod lineage, previously unsuspected.

Taxon or Taxa:	Time/Place:	Comments:
Ferganasaurus verzilini Alifanov and Averianov, 2003	Callovian (MJ) of Kyrgyzstan	Ferganasaurus is a basal neosauropod known from a partial skeleton consisting of a variety of material from behind the neck. It was first excavated back in 1966, but remained undescribed until recently. Some other material, including a spatulate tooth, may be referable, and all in all this animal appears to be a Jobaria-like creature close to the major splittings of the derived sauropod clades. One unusual character is the possession of two large claws per hand.
"Ischyrosaurus" manseli (N.D.) Hulke 1874 (species vide Lydekker, 1888)	Kimmeridgian (LJ) of England	A dubious LJ European sauropod based on a humerus, this is traditionally thought to be a brachiosaurid, but it could be a basal titanosauriform of a different stripe, or a rebbachisaurid (which would make it the oldest known member).
Xenoposeidon proneneukos Taylor and Naish, 2007	Berriasian-Valanginian (EK) of England	Xenoposeidon is based on a very unusual partial posterior dorsal vert that had sat around for over a century in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London. The preserved portion of the neural spine is sloped forward at 35°, with a base running the entire length of the centrum, and large areas of the sides are strikingly featureless. This animal does not fit well into any known group of neosauropods; it might be a basal somphospondyl.

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