Massospondylidae is a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of massopod sauropodomorphs. Massospondylids are early sauropodomorph dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

s which existed in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 during the Late Triassic

Late Triassic

The Late Triassic is in the geologic timescale the third and final of three epochs of the Triassic period. The corresponding series is known as the Upper Triassic. In the past it was sometimes called the Keuper, after a German lithostratigraphic group that has a roughly corresponding age...

 to the Early Jurassic

Early Jurassic

The Early Jurassic epoch is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic period...

 periods. Although several dinosaurs have been classified as massospondylids over the years, the largest cladistic analysis of early sauropodomorphs presented by Apaldetti and colleagues in November 2011, found Adeopapposaurus

Adeopapposaurus

Adeopapposaurus is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Cañón del Colorado Formation of San Juan, Argentina. It was similar to Massospondylus. Four partial skeletons with two partial skulls are known.The type specimen, PVSJ568, includes a skull and most of a skeleton to just...

, Coloradisaurus

Coloradisaurus

Coloradisaurus is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Late Triassic period in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is known from the holotype PVL 5904, nearly complete skull...

, Glacialisaurus

Glacialisaurus

Glacialisaurus is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now central Transantarctic Mountains of Antarctica. It is known from the holotype FMNH PR1823, a partial hind limb and from the referred material FMNH PR1822, a left...

, Massospondylus

Massospondylus

Massospondylus and ) is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur from the early Jurassic Period . It was described by Sir Richard Owen in 1854 from remains found in South Africa, and is thus one of the first dinosaurs to have been named...

, Leyesaurus

Leyesaurus

Leyesaurus is an extinct genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph known from the San Juan Province, northwestern Argentina.-Description:...

and Lufengosaurus

Lufengosaurus

Lufengosaurus is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic period in what is now southwestern China.-Discovery and species:...

to be valid massospondylids. This result supports many previous analyses which tested less taxa. However, this analysis found the two recently described North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n massopods, Sarahsaurus

Sarahsaurus

Sarahsaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur which lived during the lower Jurassic period in what is now northeastern Arizona, USA....

and Seitaad

Seitaad

Seitaad is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur which lived during the lower Jurassic period in what is now southern Utah, USA.Seitaad is known from an articulated partial postcranial holotype skeleton referred to as UMNH VP 18040. The skeleton is missing its head, neck and tail...

and the South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n Ignavusaurus

Ignavusaurus

Ignavusaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic in what is now present-day Lesotho. Its fossils were found in the upper Elliot Formation which is probably Hettangian in age. It was described on the basis of a partial, well preserved articulated skeleton...

, to nest outside Massospondylidae, as opposed to some provisional proposals. Earlier in 2011, Pradhania

Pradhania

Pradhania is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Sinemurian-age Upper Dharmaram Formation of India. It was first named by T. S. Kutty, Sankar Chatterjee, Peter M. Galton and Paul Upchurch in 2007 and the type species is Pradhania gracilis...

, a sauropodomorph from India was tested for the first time in a large cladistic analysis and was found to be a relatively basal massospondylid. Mussaurus

Mussaurus

Mussaurus was a genus of herbivorous prosauropod dinosaur that lived in southern Argentina during the Late Triassic Period, about 215 million years ago...

and Xixiposaurus

Xixiposaurus

Xixiposaurus is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur which existed in what is now Lower Lufeng Formation, China during the lower Jurassic period. It was first named by Sekiya Toru in 2010 and the type species is Xixiposaurus suni....

may be included within Massospondylidae, too.

Phylogeny

Massospondylidae, which was first named by Huene

Friedrich von Huene

Friedrich von Huene was a German paleontologist who named more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe.-Biography:...

 in 1914, is a stem-based taxon and it was defined by Sereno as all animals more closely related to Massospondylus carinatus than to Plateosaurus engelhardti and Saltasaurus loricatus.

The following cladogram

Cladogram

A cladogram is a diagram used in cladistics which shows ancestral relations between organisms, to represent the evolutionary tree of life. Although traditionally such cladograms were generated largely on the basis of morphological characters, DNA and RNA sequencing data and computational...

 simplified after an analysis presented by Apaldetti and colleagues in 2011.
The following cladogram simplified after an analysis presented by Novas et al., 2011: