RE: Aliwalia and friends

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Adam Yates
>
> Finally. Sauropodomorph phylogeny. Yes, the content of Prosauropoda seen in 
> Yates and Kitching 2003 and Yates 2004 is 
> gone and the phylogeny more closely resembles that in my earlier T. caducus 
> paper. This is actually a robust result and 
> there is a slew of new data in this new analysis, including cranial data for 
> Melanorosaurus and a host of new characters. 
> There are still areas of great uncertainty, where the taxa can shift around 
> with slight changes to the matrix but the 
> basic topology of Saturnalia + (Thecodontosaurus + (Plateosauridae + 
> (Massospondylidae + (Anchisaurus, Melanorosaurus, 
> âtypical sauropodsâ)))) is solid. This does have big implications for 
> phylogenetic taxonomy. 

It also makes things nicer for those of us on the other branch of Sauischia, 
because we can use just a few basal sauropodomorphs (Saturnalia, 
Thecondontosaurus, Plateosaurus, for instance) as out groups, instead of having 
to learn all those weird Triassic and Early Jurassic sauropods, too!

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
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