Aeolosaurini

Aeolosaurini Temporal range: Cretaceous, 110–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Maxakalisaurus skeleton
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	†Sauropodomorpha
Clade:	†Sauropoda
Clade:	†Macronaria
Clade:	†Titanosauria
Clade:	†Lithostrotia
Clade:	†Aeolosaurini Franco-Rosas et al., 2004
Genera[3]
Aeolosaurus Arrudatitan[1] Bravasaurus Caieiria Gondwanatitan Panamericansaurus Punatitan Shingopana[2]

Aeolosaurini is an extinct clade of titanosaurian dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous period of Argentina and Brazil. Rodrigo M. Santucci and Antonio C. de Arruda-Campos (2011) in their cladistic analysis found Aeolosaurus, Gondwanatitan, Maxakalisaurus, Panamericansaurus and Rinconsaurus to be aeolosaurids.^[4]

Aeolosaurini is characterized by several synapomorphies of the caudal vertebrae, such as angled centra, elongate prezygapophyses, and neural arches shifted anteriorly relative to the centra. In life, their tails may have been strongly curved downward as a result of these traits, which may have increased the force exerted by the caudofemoralis longus muscle in retracting the hindlimb.^[5] Some aeolosaurins, such as Shingopana and Overosaurus, were relatively small compared to other titanosaurs,^[6][7] whereas others, such as Aeolosaurus maximus, were large.^[4]

Phylogeny

Aeolosaurini was defined by Franco-Rosas, Salgado, Rosas and Carvalho (2004) as the stem-based taxon that corresponds to the most-inclusive clade containing Aeolosaurus rionegrinus and Gondwanatitan faustoi, but not Saltasaurus loricatus and Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii.^[8] Below is a cladogram showing the phylogenetic relationships of Aeolosaurini-based Santucci and Arruda-Campos (2011), from Franca et al. (2016) on the left, and Silva et al. (2019) on the right.^[4][9][10]

Lithostrotia Malawisaurus Muyelensaurus Nemegtosauridae Nemegtosaurus Tapuiasaurus Rapetosaurus Saltasauroidea Diamantinasaurus Baurutitan Isisaurus Saltasauridae Alamosaurus Opisthocoelicaudia Neuquensaurus Saltasaurus Aeolosaurini Maxakalisaurus Panamericansaurus Rinconsaurus Gondwanatitan Aeolosaurus maximus Aeolosaurus colhuehuapensis Aeolosaurus rionegrinus

Maxakalisaurus Tapuiasaurus Trigonosaurus Lirainosaurus Ampelosaurus Bonitasaura Dreadnoughtus Saltasauridae Alamosaurus Opisthocoelicaudia Saltasaurinae Neuquensaurus Rocasaurus Saltasaurus Aeolosaurini Rapetosaurus Brasilotitan Uberabatitan Aeolosaurus maximus Rinconsauria Muyelensaurus Rinconsaurus Overosaurus Gondwanatitan Aeolosaurus colhuehuapensis Aeolosaurus rionegrinus

References

1. Silva, J.C. jr.; Martinelli, A.G.; Iori, F.V.; Marinho, T.S.; Hechenleitner, E.M.; Langer, M.C. (2021). "Reassessment of Aeolosaurus maximus, a titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Southeastern Brazil". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 34 (3): 403–411. doi:10.1080/08912963.2021.1920016. S2CID 235526860.
2. Gorscak, E.; O'Connor, P.M.; Roberts, E.M.; Stevens, N.J. (2017). "The second titanosaurian (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania, with remarks on African titanosaurian diversity". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 361 (4): 35–55. Bibcode:2017JVPal..37E3250G. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1343250. S2CID 90885040.
3. Santucci, R.M.; Filippi, L.S. (2022). "Last Titans: Titanosaurs From the Campanian–Maastrichtian Age". In Otero, A.; Carballido, J.L.; Pol, D. (eds.). South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Record, Diversity and Evolution. Springer. pp. 341–391. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3. ISBN 978-3-030-95958-6. ISSN 2197-9596. S2CID 248368302.
4. Rodrigo M. Santucci; Antonio C. de Arruda-Campos (2011). "A new sauropod (Macronaria, Titanosauria) from the Adamantina Formation, Bauru Group, Upper Cretaceous of Brazil and the phylogenetic relationships of Aeolosaurini" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3085: 1–33. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3085.1.1.
5. da Silva Vidal, Luciano; Pereira, Paulo Victor Luiz Gomes da Costa; Tavares, Sandra; Brusatte, Stephen L.; Bergqvist, Lílian Paglarelli; Candeiro, Carlos Roberto dos Anjos (2020-04-13). "Investigating the enigmatic Aeolosaurini clade: the caudal biomechanics of Aeolosaurus maximus (Aeolosaurini/Sauropoda) using the neutral pose method and the first case of protonic tail condition in Sauropoda". Historical Biology. 33 (9): 1836–1856. doi:10.1080/08912963.2020.1745791. S2CID 218822392.
6. Gorscak, Eric; O'Connor, Patrick M.; Roberts, Eric M.; Stevens, Nancy J. (2017-07-04). "The second titanosaurian (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation, southwestern Tanzania, with remarks on African titanosaurian diversity". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 37 (4): –1343250. Bibcode:2017JVPal..37E3250G. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1343250. S2CID 90885040.
7. Coria, Rodolfo A.; Filippi, Leonardo S.; Chiappe, Luis M.; García, Rodolfo; Arcucci, Andrea B. (2013-07-05). "Overosaurus paradasorum gen. et sp. nov., a new sauropod dinosaur (Titanosauria: Lithostrotia) from the Late Cretaceous of Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina". Zootaxa. 3683 (4): 357–376. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3683.4.2. hdl:11336/21928. PMID 25250458.
8. Franco-Rosas, A. C.; et al. (2004). Nuevos materiales de titanosaurios (Sauropoda) en el Cretácico Superior de Mato Grosso, Brasil [New materials of titanosaurs (Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mato Grosso, Brazil]. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia. 7(3): 329-336.
9. França, M.A.G.; Marsola, J.C.d A.; Riff, D.; Hsiou, A.S.; Langer, M.C. (2016). "New lower jaw and teeth referred to Maxakalisaurus topai (Titanosauria: Aeolosaurini) and their implications for the phylogeny of titanosaurid sauropods". PeerJ. 4: e2054. doi:10.7717/peerj.2054. PMC 4906671. PMID 27330853.
10. Silva, J.C.G. Jr.; Marinho, T.S.; Martinelli, A.G.; Langer, M.C. (2019). "Osteology and systematics of Uberabatitan ribeiroi (Dinosauria; Sauropoda): a Late Cretaceous titanosaur from Minas Gerais, Brazil". Zootaxa. 4577 (3): 401–438. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4577.3.1. PMID 31715707. S2CID 145939866.