28-469: Rebbachisauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs known from fragmentary fossil remains from the Cretaceous of South America , Africa , North America , Europe and possibly Central Asia . In 1990 sauropod specialist Jack McIntosh included the first known rebbachisaurid genus, the giant North African sauropod Rebbachisaurus , in the family Diplodocidae , subfamily Dicraeosaurinae , on
56-593: A basal dicraeosaurid, including Whitlock (2010) and Salgado et al. (2006). As sauropods, dicraeosaurids are obligate herbivores. Due to their relatively small necks and skull shape, it has been deduced that dicraeosaurids and diplodocids primarily browsed close to the ground or at mid height. Among the dicraeosaurids, only Dicraeosaurus has well-preserved dentition. This makes it difficult for paleontologists to make definitive statements about Dicraeosauridae feeding behavior compared to diplodocid feeding behavior. However, compared to its known relatives, Dicraeosaurus
84-422: A clade with Limaysaurus , and thus the subfamily was not used. In 2015, a phylogenetic analysis was conducted, and it found Rebbachisaurus instead to be closer to Nigersaurus and related genera than Limaysaurus , and thus was used to replace Nigersaurinae as Rebbachisaurinae is the older term and is named after the genus used for the formation of the family Rebbachisauridae. The 2015 cladogram of Fanti et al.
112-457: A consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called the seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time
140-446: A family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to a lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching
168-635: A few bones available for study including an ulna, partial scapula, partial dorsal vertebrae, a distal radius, and some metacarpals. Dyslocosaurus polyonychius also has extremely limited fossil evidence that only includes appendicular elements, and the position of it in Tschopp's phylogeny is therefore considered "preliminary". Several studies, however, do not include even Suuwassea in Dicraeosauridae, such as Sereno et al. (2007); and JD Harris (2006). Other studies, however, recover Suuwassea as
196-589: A new genus, Pilmatueia , was described. Dicraeosaurids are differentiated from their sister group, diplodocids, and from most sauropods by their relatively small body size and short necks. Dicraeosaurids are advanced sauropods within the monophyletic clade Neosauropoda , which is generally characterized by gigantism. The relatively small body size of dicraeosaurids make them an important outlier relative to other taxa in Neosauropoda. There have been several different proposed phylogenies of Dicraeosauridae and
224-476: Is monophyletic and well-supported phylogenetically with thirteen unambiguous synapomorphies uniting it. They diverged from Diplodocidae in the Mid-Jurassic, as evidenced by the diversity of dicraeosaurids in both South America and East Africa when Gondwana was still united by land. However, there is some disagreement among paleontologists on the phylogenetic placement of Suuwassea , the only genus of
252-628: Is a clade within Rebbachisauridae. Members of Khebbashia were medium-sized sauropods from the early Cretaceous period of South America, Africa and Europe. The name "Khebbashia" is derived from "Khebbash" or "Khebbache", a Moroccan tribe that inhabited the region where the first rebbachisaurid specimen was found in North Africa. Khebbashia is defined as the least inclusive clade including Limaysaurus tessonei , Nigersaurus taqueti , and Rebbachisaurus garasbae . It therefore includes
280-661: Is from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous . Few dicraeosaurids survived into the Cretaceous, the youngest of which was Amargasaurus . The group was first described by German paleontologist Werner Janensch in 1914 with the discovery of Dicraeosaurus in Tanzania. Dicraeosauridae are distinct from other sauropods because of their relatively short neck size and small body size. The clade
308-664: Is shown below. Although all authorities agree that the rebbachisaurids are members of the superfamily Diplodocoidea , they lack the bifid (divided) cervical neural spines that characterise the diplodocids and dicraeosaurids , and for this reason are considered more primitive than the latter two groups. It is not yet known whether they share the distinctive whip-tail of the latter two taxa. Rebbachisaurids are distinguished from other sauropods by their distinctive teeth, which have low angle, internal wear facets and asymmetrical enamel . Unique among sauropods, at least some rebbachisaurids (such as Nigersaurus ) are characterised by
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#1732798323504336-426: Is unique in that it has an equal number of teeth in the upper and lower jaw, though teeth in the lower jaw are replaced more slowly. Dicraeosaurids are characterized by their relatively small body size, short necks, and long neural spines. They are 10–13 meters in body length. They share thirteen unambiguous synapomorphies including dorsal vertebrae without pleurocoels, the presence of a ventrally directed prong on
364-499: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Dicraeosauridae Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods who are
392-494: The Cretaceous. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae ) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between
420-541: The Dicraeosauridae to be found in North America. It has been characterized as a basal dicraeosaurid by some and a member of the Diplodocidae by others. The placement of Suuwassea within Dicraeosauridae or Diplodocidae has substantial biogeographic implications for the evolution of Dicraeosauridae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of Diplodocoidea and are the sister group to Diploidocidae. In the past two decades,
448-536: The Rebbachisauridae according to Carballido et al. (2012) is shown below: Amazonsaurus Histriasaurus Zapalasaurus Comahuesaurus Rayososaurus Rebbachisaurus Cathartesaura Limaysaurus Nigersaurus Demandasaurus Cladogram after Fanti et al. , 2015. Amazonsaurus Zapalasaurus Histriasaurus Comahuesaurus Cathartesaura Limaysaurus Katepensaurus Nigersaurus Rebbachisaurus Demandasaurus Tataouinea Khebbashia
476-474: The basis of skeletal details. With the discovery in subsequent years of a number of additional genera, it was realised that Rebbachisaurus and its relatives constituted a distinct group of dinosaurs. In 1997 the Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte described the family Rebbachisauridae, and in 2011 Whitlock defined two new subfamilies within the group: Nigersaurinae and Limaysaurinae. The cladogram of
504-514: The book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
532-610: The diplodocids in the middle Jurassic in North America and subsequently dispersed into Gondwana, with the most diversity in East Africa and South America. Amargasaurus was the latest surviving dicraeosaurid genus, living into the Early Cretaceous period. Recently from the Thar Desert , a dicraeosaurid fossil dating back to 167 million years ago was discovered in 2023. This present-day sweltering expanse of India
560-540: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
588-607: The intra-group cladistics are not resolved. Suuwassea is variably positioned as either a basal dicraeosaurid or a basal diplodocoid. The phylogeny published by Tschopp and colleagues in 2015 is as follows: Dyslocosaurus polyonychius Suuwassea emilieae Dystrophaeus viaemalae Brachytrachelopan mesai Amargasaurus cazaui Dicraeosaurus hansemanni Tschopp includes Dyslocosaurus and Dystrophaeus as dicraeosaurids, two genera traditionally not considered to be part of Dicraeosauridae. The specimens of Dystrophaeus viamelae are highly fragmentary, with only
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#1732798323504616-429: The known diversity of the group has doubled. However, the classification of Suuwassea as a dicraeosaurid is not universally agreed upon. Some phylogenetic analyses have found Suuwassea to be a basal diplodocoid instead of a dicraeosaurid. One 2015 analysis has even found Dyslocosaurus as a member of Dicraeosauridae. A 2016 reappraisal of Amargatitanis has placed it into the Dicraeosauridae, as well. In 2018
644-474: The presence of tooth batteries, similar to those of hadrosaur and ceratopsian dinosaurs. Such a feeding adaptation has thus developed independently three times among the dinosaurs. So far, rebbachisaurids are known only from the middle and early part of the Late Cretaceous. They constitute the last known representatives of the diplodocoids, and lived alongside the titanosaurs until fairly late in
672-491: The ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae , but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging
700-482: The rebbachisaurid subfamilies Rebbachisaurinae and Limaysaurinae , to the exclusion of more basal forms. Rebbachisaurinae is a subfamily which is within both Rebbachisauridae and Khebbashia, defined to include Rebbachisaurus garasbae and exclude Limaysaurus tessonei , which belongs to its own subfamily, Limaysaurinae . It was first proposed as a rank by Jose Bonaparte in 1995, to include Rebbachisaurus . Some phylogenies however, include Rebbachisaurus in
728-540: The sister group to Diplodocidae . Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata , along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as Amargasaurus , Suuwassea , Dicraeosaurus , and Brachytrachelopan . Specimens of this family have been found in North America, Asia, Africa, and South America. In 2023, a dicraeosaurid fossil was discovered in India for the first time. Their temporal range
756-549: The squamosal, and a subtriangular-shaped dentary symphysis. Early Dicraeosaurid specimens have been found in three continents - Africa, South America, and North America. The distribution of species is primarily Gondwonan, with the exception of the North American Suuwassea . The presence of Suuwassea in North America is unique among dicraeosaurids, therefore making the proper taxonomic classification of Suuwassea essential. The group likely first diverged from
784-488: Was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted the use of this term solely within
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