Somphospondylans Temporal range: Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous,
Skeleton of Qiaowanlong
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Macronaria
Clade:	†Camarasauromorpha
Clade:	†Titanosauriformes
Clade:	†Somphospondyli Wilson & Sereno, 1998
Genera
†Agustinia? †Angolatitan †Arkharavia? †Astrophocaudia †Australodocus †Austrosaurus? †Brontomerus †Chubutisaurus †Dongbeititan †Dongyangosaurus †Europatitan †Garumbatitan †Gobititan? †Liaoningotitan †Ligabuesaurus †Padillasaurus †Pukyongosaurus? †Ruixinia †Sauroposeidon †Sibirotitan †Tastavinsaurus †Triunfosaurus †Wintonotitan? †Euhelopodidae †Titanosauria

Somphospondyli is an extinct clade of titanosauriform sauropods that lived from the Late Jurassic until the end of the Late Cretaceous, comprising all titanosauriforms more closely related to Titanosauria proper than Brachiosauridae. The remains of somphospondylans have been discovered on all continents.

Classification

The group has officially been defined under the PhyloCode as the largest clade containing Saltasaurus loricatus, but not Giraffatitan brancai.^[1] Features found as diagnostic of this clade by Mannion et al. (2013) include the possession of at least 15 cervical vertebrae; a bevelled radius bone end; sacral vertebrae with camellate internal texture; convex posterior articular surfaces of middle to posterior caudal vertebrae; biconvex distal caudal vertebrae; humerus anterolateral corner "squared"; among multiple others.^[2]

The following cladogram depicts the reference phylogeny used to defined Somphospondlyi under the PhyloCode.^[1]

References