Plateosaurians facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Plateosaurians |
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| Plateosaurus engelhardti skeleton | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Plateosauria Tornier, 1913 |
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Plateosauria is a group of dinosaurs that lived a very long time ago. They were a type of sauropodomorph dinosaur. These dinosaurs lived from the Late Triassic period all the way to the Late Cretaceous period. That's a huge span of time!
The name Plateosauria was first used by a scientist named Gustav Tornier in 1913. After that, the name wasn't used much until the 1980s.
What are Plateosaurians?
Plateosaurians are a special group, or clade, of dinosaurs. Think of a clade as a family tree for animals. This group includes the famous Plateosaurus engelhardti and Massospondylus carinatus. It also includes all the dinosaurs that came from their shared ancestor.
Scientists like Paul Sereno and Peter Galton have studied these dinosaurs. They look at how different dinosaurs are related to each other. This helps them understand the dinosaur family tree.
How Scientists Group Plateosaurians
Scientists use something called cladistics to group dinosaurs. This is like building a family tree based on shared features. Early ideas grouped Plateosaurians with a larger group called Prosauropoda.
However, newer studies show that the traditional Prosauropoda group might not be a true natural group. This means some dinosaurs in it might be more closely related to other types of dinosaurs.
Recent research suggests that dinosaurs like Issi and Plateosaurus are some of the earliest Plateosaurians. This helps us understand where this group started on the dinosaur family tree.
See also
In Spanish: Sauropodomorpha para niños
