DIPLODOCIDAE
CLASSIFICATION
Animalia: Vertebrata: Tetrapoda: Sauropsida: Archosauromorpha:
Ornithodira: Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha: Sauropoda: Diplodocimorpha
CLADOGRAM:
--Diplodocidae
| INCERTAE SEDIS:
| unnamed form -- Early Cretaceous -- England
| Dinheirosaurus
| Dyslocosaurus
| Dystrophaeus
|--Apatosaurinae
| |--Apatosaurus
| `--Eobrontosaurus
`--Diplodocinae
| INCERTAE SEDIS:
| indeterminate material -- Georgian Republic
|--Barosaurus
|--Diplodocus
`--+--Dystylosaurus
|--Seismosaurus
`--Supersaurus
ESSAY
| Diplodocids included some of the hugest creatures to walk upon the Earth. Supersaurus and Seismosaurus probably weighed in at 45-60 metric tonnes. D IGITAL DINOS:These animals have been the focus of several computer-assisted studies in biophysics. One study suggests that diplodocids could actually crack their tails like whips, causing loud sonic booms. Another study, focusing on the other end of the animals, suggests that they could not hold their heads very high, and thus may have fed on low-growing vegetation. This goes against previous thought that sauropods evolved their long necks to reach into the trees. INTEGUMENT:Recently a diplodocid was found with non-bony dermal spines along its back. Since non-bony structures are rarely preserved, it is not certain how widely throughout Sauropodomorpha this feature existed. |