Sauropodomorph evolution across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary: body size, locomotion, and their influence on morphological disparity.

ABSTRACT: Sauropodomorph dinosaurs were the dominant medium to large-sized herbivores of most Mesozoic continental ecosystems, being characterized by their long necks and reaching a size unparalleled by other terrestrial animals (> 60 tonnes). Our study of morphological disparity across the entire skeleton shows that during the Late Triassic the oldest known sauropodomorphs occupied a small region of morphospace, subsequently diversifying both taxonomically and ecologically, and shifting to a different and broader region of the morphospace. After the Triassic-Jurassic boundary event, there are no substancial changes in sauropodomorph morphospace occupation. Almost all Jurassic sauropodomorph clades stem from ghost lineages that cross the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, indicating that variations after t

SUBMITTER: Apaldetti C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8602272 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature