Pampadromeus provient de la partie supérieure de la Formation Santa Maria au Brésil qui avait déjà livrée Staurikosaurus et Saturnalia. Tous ces animaux datent du début du Trias supérieur (Carnien). C'est également l'âge des nombreux dinosaures de la Formation Ischigualasto en Argentine (Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus, Pisanosaurus, Chromogisaurus, Panphagia, Sanjuansaurus et Eodromaeus).
Vu la diversité de ces animaux déjà au Carnien il est probable que l'on découvrira des dinosaures plus anciens, c'est-à-dire du Trias moyen. Mais il reste à découvrir un squelette de dino dans les terrains de cette époque. L'existence de dinosaures de cet âge fut avancé sur la base d'empreintes de pas attribuées à des théropodes je crois, mais il n'est pas toujours facile de distinguer des empreintes de certains dinosaures de celles d'autres archosaures du Trias.
Les auteurs considèrent qu'il est omnivore. Panphagia est assez proche de Saturnalia, mais encore plus basal que lui. Il a pas mal de points en commun avec Eoraptor, c'est pour dire.
Ben, tout dépend de quel point de vue on se place...
Upchurch, Barrett et Galton (2007), contrairement à Yates (2007), retrouvent encore ce groupe monophylétique, qui n'est autre que le groupe s½ur des Sauropoda parmi les Anchisauria, dans leur analyse cladistique. Mais il ne comprend cependant pas les membres les plus basaux des Sauropodomorpha (Saturnalia, Thecodontosaurus, Mussaurus et Efraasia).
Upchurch, P., Barrett, P. M. & Galton, P. M., 2007. A phylogenetic analysis of basal sauropodomorph relationships: Implications for the origin of sauropod dinosaurs pp. 57-90. In Barrett, P. M. & D. J. Batten (eds.), Evolution and palaeobiology of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 77.
Yates, A. M., 2007. The first complete skull of the Triassic dinosaur Melanorosaurus Haughton (Sauropodomorpha: Anchisauria) pp. 9–55. In Barrett, P. M. & D. J. Batten (eds.), Evolution and palaeobiology of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 77.
Martinez et Alcober publient dans la revue PLoS one une nouvelle espèce de dinosaure du membre d'Ischigualasto daté du Carnien (environ 228,3 Ma). Phanpagia protos, c'est son nom, est classé dans les Sauropodomorpha et n'en est pas moins le membre le plus basal. Celui-ci détrône donc Saturnalia du même étage et découvert au Brésil. Il démontre également que les sauropodomorphes émergèrent dès le Ladinien et peut-être même durant un étage du Trias moyen plus ancien.
Référence de l'article :
Martinez R.N., Alcober O.A., 2009. A Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Ischigualasto Formation (Triassic, Carnian) and the Early Evolution of Sauropodomorpha. PLoS ONE 4(2): e4397. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004397
Lolo nous a trouvé ceci :
Smith, N.D. and Pol, D. 2007. Anatomy of a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of Antarctica. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 52 (4): 657–674.
The anatomy of a basal sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of Antarctica is described in detail. The material includes a distal left femur and an articulated right pes, including the astragalus, distal tarsals, and metatarsals I–IV. The material is referable to Sauropodomorpha and represents a non−eusauropod, sauropodomorph more derived than the most basal members of Sauropodomorpha (e.g., Saturnalia, Thecodontosaurus, Efraasia, and Plateosaurus) based on a combination of plesiomorphic and derived character states. Several autapomorphies present in both the femur and metatarsus suggest that this material represents a distinct sauropodomorph taxon, herein named Glacialisaurus hammeri gen. et sp. nov. Some of the derived characters present in the Antarctic taxon suggest affinities with Coloradisaurus and Lufengosaurus (e.g., proximolateral flange on plantar surface of metatarsal II, well−developed facet on metatarsal II for articulation with medial distal tarsal, subtrapezoidal proximal surface of metatarsal III). Preliminary phylogenetic analyses suggest a close relationship between the new Antarctic taxon and Lufengosaurus from the Early Jurassic Lufeng Formation of China. However, the lack of robust support for the taxon's phylogenetic position, and current debate in basal sauropodomorph phylogenetics limits phylogenetic and biogeographic inferences drawn from this analysis. The new taxon is important for establishing the Antarctic continent as part of the geographic distribution of sauropodomorph dinosaurs in the Early Jurassic, and recently recovered material from the Hanson Formation that may represent a true sauropod, lends support to the notion that the earliest sauropods coexisted with their basal sauropodomorph relatives for an extended period of time.
Kutty, T.S., Chatterjee, S., Galton, P.M. & Upchurch, P. (2007). Basal Sauropodomorphs (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the lower Jurassic of India: their anatomy and relationships. Journal of Paleontology 81 (6): 1218-1240
The Upper Dharmaram Formation (Lower Jurassic, Sinemurian) of India has yielded three sauropodomorph dinosaurs, two new taxa and an indeterminate one. Lamplughsaura dharmaramensis n. gen. and sp., represented by several partial skeletons, is a heavily built quadrupedal form (body length ∼10 m). Autapomorphies include teeth with strongly emarginated distal edge; caudal cervical neural spines bearing a vertically oriented ligamentous furrow on cranial and caudal surfaces and a transversely expanded spine table; caudal neural spines bearing a craniodorsally directed spur (proximal caudal vertebrae) or a large process (midcaudal vertebrae); caudal neural spines shorter than transverse processes so former lost first in passing along tail; and a plesiomorphy that is the nontrenchant form of manual ungual I. The Indian dinosaurs were coded for two recent datamatrices for basal sauropodomorphs. The results of this preliminary analysis indicate that Lamplughsaura is either a basal Sauropoda or, less likely, based on Templeton's test, a stem sauropodomorph. The second large form, represented by the proximal half of a femur, is a sauropodomorph that is more derived than Saturnalia (Brazil) and Thecodontosaurus (Great Britain) from the Upper Triassic. This is also true for the smaller (body length ∼4 m as adult) Pradhania gracilis n. gen. and sp. which lies outside of the Sauropoda + Plateosauria clade, so it is definitely a stem sauropodomorph. Pradhania is known from fragmentary material; an autapomorphy is the very prominent medial longitudinal ridge on the maxilla
A new genus name is proposed for Thecodontosaurus caducus Yates, 2003, the 'Thecodontosaurus' from South Wales.
Galton, P.M., Yates, A.M. & Kermack, D. (2007) Pantydraco n. gen. for Thecodontosaurus caducus Yates, 2003, a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Upper Triassic or Lower Jurassic of South Wales, UK. Neues Jahrbuch für GEologie und Paläontologie, abh., 243: 119-125
Abstract: Numerous isolated bones from a Rhaetian (Upper Triassic) fissure fill in Clifton, Bristol, England have been referred to the basal sauropodomorph Thecodontosaurus Riley & Stutchbury 1836 (type genus of T. antiquus Reley & Stutchbury vide OWen, 1842). T cadacus Yates 2003 (Rhaetian of Lower Triassic fissure fill, South Wales) is based on several articulated partial skeletons of juvenile individuals. T. antiquus is based on isolated neotype dentary that does not possess an autopomorphy or a unique combination of characters. This dentary is unusually short and deep but this character is also present in T. caducus and Saturnalia tupiniquim (Upper Triassic, Brazil). However, the characters of refered Clifton postcrania cannot be used to diagnose Thecodontosaurus because there are three humeral mprphs from Clifton. No other bones from Clifton have characters diagnostic for T. cadacus and the ages of the two fissure fills may be different. The gracile mprph long refered to T. antiquus is present in the monospecific assembalge of 1000's of isolated sauropodomorph bones from the Rhaetian fissure fill at Tytherington Quarry near Bristol. A comprehensive cladistic analysis of basal sauropodomorphs, in which T. antiquus (characters mostly based on Tyterington bones) and T. caducus were included as sepparate terminal taxa, failed to recover a monophyletic Thecodontosaurus in all of the most parsimonious trees. T. caducus Yates, 2003 is made the type species of Pantydraco n. gen., which can be diagnotised by the autapomorphic presence of pneumatic openings on cervical vertebrae 6-8. The prominent apex of the anteroposteriorly low assymetrical deltopectoral crest is at 40% of humeral length (versus low at 25%, and high at 40% and at 50% in Clifton humeri) and the tubercle medial to the head is small (large in Clifton humeri).
Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, Volume 4, Issue 04, December
2006, pp 309-358
Early dinosaur evolution has been the subject of several phylogenetic studies and the position of certain basal forms is currently debated. This is the case for the oldest known members of the group, excavated from the Late Triassic Ischigualastian beds of South America, such as Herrerasaurus, Eoraptor, Pisanosaurus, Saturnalia and Staurikosaurus. A new cladistic analysis of the early dinosaur radiation was performed to assess the relationships among the three major clades
(Ornithischia, Sauropodomorpha and Theropoda) and to define the
phylogenetic position of the basal members of the group. The most parsimonious hypothesis has Silesaurus opolensis as the sister taxon to a dichotomy including monophyletic Saurischia and Ornithischia. The latter includes Pisanosaurus mertii, and the former all other well-known Triassic dinosaurs. Saurischia is composed of two major monophyletic groups: Herrerasauridae (including Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis and Staurikosaurus pricei) and Eusaurischia (including the theropod and sauropodomorph lineages), while Eoraptor lunensis appears to represent the sister taxon to Eusaurischia. Saturnalia tupiniquim is a stem-taxon to Sauropodomorpha and Guaibasaurus candelariensis might belong to the theropod branch. Some
of these hypotheses are, however, not strongly supported. Especially uncertain are the affinities of Silesaurus and Guaibasaurus. The latter can only be safely regarded as a saurischian, while the former might belong to the ornithischian lineage. The dinosaurian affinities of Eoraptor and Herrerasauridae are strongly supported. Yet, the possibility that they (especially Eoraptor) represent basal theropods, rather than basal saurischians, cannot be dismissed. In fact, basal saurischian evolution is still too poorly understood for a definitive
hypothesis of relationships to be presented.
A new specimen of Guaibasaurus candelariensis (basal Saurischia) from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil. J. F. Bonaparte, G. Brea, C. L. Schultz, A. G. Martinelli. Historical Biology: A Journal of Paleobiology, Issue: preview
The comparison of the anatomy of a second incomplete skeleton of Guaibasaurus candelariensis to that of basal Saurischia suggests that the origin of the Prosauropoda was from unknown basal saurischians, after separating from theropods (except herrerasaurids) . Guaibasaurus and Saturnalia are part of this early dichotomy, and they bear mixed
characters-states of basal theropods and prosauropods type. The Late Triassic age of both Guaibasaurus and Saturnalia (the latter is older) predates the dominance of basal sauropodomorphs as well as the appearance of the basal theropod Zupaysaurus, both recorded from the upper Los Colorados Formation of Argentina.
Il y a aussi Saturnalia tupiniquim qui pourrait appartenir à un groupe frère des Sauropodomorphes, qui vivait au Ladinien supérieur - Carnien inférieur...Mais trop de doutes à son sujet.
Les Sauropodomorphes regroupent des herbivores de toutes tailles, bipèdes chez les plus primitifs, sinon quadrupèdes. On trouve parmis les Sauropodomorphes les plus lourds et les plus longs animaux terrestres jamais découverts. Ils sont pourvu, en général, d'une petite tête, d'un long cou, d'un corps volumineux, et d'une assez longue queue. Ces herbivores devaient vivre en troupeaux, migrant au gré des saisons. Ils vécurent pendant tout le secondaire.
A- Prosauropoda:
Les Prosauropodes ne sont pas, à priori, les ancêtres des Sauropodes, puisque certains vivaient à la même époque. Les Prosauropodes sont pourvu d'une petite tête (- 50% du fémur), de dents spatulées, en forme de feuille; main: doigt I pourvu d'une grande griffe, doigts IV et V réduits; pied: orteil I pourvu d'une grande griffe, orteil V très réduit.
Le plus basal serait:
¤ Saturnalia tupiniquim Langer et al., 1999
Carnien - Brésil
Ensuite vient une famille primitive, Thecodontosauridae:
De petite taille; probablement bipède; grand orbite; radius très réduit; dent en forme de cuillère.
¤ Thecodontosaurus antiquus Morris, 1843
Norien/Rhaetien - Angleterre (7 autres espèces) - Inclus dans ce genre: Agrosaurus macgillvrayi
Les Prosauropodes sont ensuite divisés en deux super-groupes: Anchisauria et Plateosauria.
A1- Anchisauria:
Au plus cinq dents sur le premaxillaire; membres antérieurs < membres postérieurs; dent à email ridé. Deux familles:
A11- Anchisauridae:
4 orteils; 5 doigts; tête petite, plus aplatie que celles des autres Prosauropodes; mâchoire courte; orbite large.
¤ Ammosaurus major Marsh, 1891
Pliensbachien/Bajocien - USA
¤ Anchisaurus polyzelus Marsh, 1885
Pliensbachien - USA (3 autres espèces)
A12- Melanorosauridae:
Prosauropodes quadrupèdes, pourvus de membres massifs et de mains adaptées aux grands poids.
Le plus basal:
¤ Riojasaurus incertus Bonaparte, 1969
Norien - Argentine. Inclus dans ce genre: Strenusaurus procerus
Ensuite:
¤ Melanorosaurus readi Haughton, 1924
Norien - Afrique du Sud (1 autre espèce)
¤ Camelotia borealis Galton, 1985
Rhaetien - Angleterre
¤ Lessemsaurus sauropoides Bonaparte, 1999
Norien - Argentine
A2- Plateosauria:
Regroupe les Prosauropodes les plus évolués.
Le plus basal:
¤ Jingshanosaurus xinwaensis Zhang & Yang, 1995
Hettangien/Pliensbachien - Chine
Les autres sont divisés en trois familles:
Massospondylidae:
Dents spatulées et grossièrement dentelées; articulation de la mâchoire juste en dessous du niveau des dents du maxillaire.
¤ Massospondylus carinatus Owen, 1854
Hettangien/Pliensbachien - Afrique du Sud, Lesotho, Zimbabwe (5 autres espèces). Inclus dans ce genre: Aetonyx palustris, Aristosaurus erectus, Dromicosaurus gracilis, Gryponyx africanus, Hortalotarsus skirtopodus, Leptospondylus capensis, Pachyspondylus orpenii.
Yunnanosauridae:
Dents en forme de cuillère.
¤ Yunnanosaurus huangi Young, 1942
Pliensbachien - Chine (1 autre espèce)
Plateosauridae:
Radius fait 50% humérus; tibia fait 75% fémur; crâne plutôt étroit; articulation de la mâchoire bien en-dessous du niveau des dents du maxillaire; la fenêtre infratemporale ne s'étend pas sous l'orbite.
¤ Coloradisaurus brevis Lambert, 1983
Norien - Argentine
¤ Lufengosaurus huenei Young, 1941
Rhaetien/Bajocien - Chine (1 autre espèce)
¤ Euskelosaurus browni Huxley, 1866
Carnien/Norien - Afrique du Sud, Zimbabawe (1 autre espèce). Inclus dans ce genre: Eucnemesaurus fortis, Gigantoscelus molengraaffi, Orinosaurus capensis, Orosaurus capensis, Plateosauravus.
¤ Plateosaurus engelhardti Meyer, 1837
Norien - Allemagne (13 autres espèces). Inclus dans ce genre: Dimodosaurus poligniensis, Gresslyosaurus ingens, Pachysauriscus, Sellosaurus gracilis.
¤ Unaysaurus tolentinoi Leal et al., 2004
Carnien/Norien - Brésil
Alors les prosauropodes vivant uniquement au Carnien (228-216.5 MA), dont on a pas retrouvé de fossiles après: Azendohsaurus, Saturnalia, Teyuwasu, Thecodontosaurus gibbidens.
Les Ornithischiens du Carnien: Galtonia, Pekinosaurus, Pisanosaurus, Technosaurus.