Diamantinasauria is an extinct clade of somphospondylan titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs with close affinities to the Titanosauria, known from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) of South America and Australia. It was named by Poropat and colleagues in 2021, and contains four (or five, depending on the placement of Wintonotitan) genera: Australotitan, Savannasaurus and Diamantinasaurus from the Winton Formation of Queensland, as well as Sarmientosaurus from the Bajo Barreal Formation of Patagonia. The existence of the clade indicates connectivity between Australia and South America via Antarctica during the Cretaceous period.[1]
Titanosauria
Andesaurus
Huabeisaurus
Dongyangosaurus
Baotianmansaurus
Diamantinasauria
Savannasaurus
Diamantinasaurus
Sarmientosaurus
AODF 836
Xianshanosaurus
Daxiatitan
Lithostrotia
Malawisaurus
Pitekunsaurus
Epachthosaurus
Colossosauria
Nemegtosaurus
Tapuiasaurus
Rapetosaurus
Isisaurus
Saltasauridae
Though Diamantinasauria has been recovered consistently as a monophyletic clade, its placement within Titanosauria has fluctuated, meaning that while it appears to be relatively stable as a clade, its content and definition may change with further analysis and study.[2]
In their 2024 description of the basal titanosaur Gandititan, Han et al. recovered the Diamantinasauria as the sister taxon to the Titanosauria, rather than within it.[3] Later that year, Beeston et al. published a review of the sauropod fossil material found in the Winton Formation and described additional new material. They suggested that Australotitan may represent a junior synonym of the contemporary Diamantinasaurus, and recovered Wintonotitan within the Diamantinasauria for the first time. Their phylogenetic analyses also placed the Diamantinasauria as the sister taxon to the Titanosauria within the Somphospondyli. Their results are displayed in the cladogram below:[4]
^Poropat, Stephen F; Kundrát, Martin; Mannion, Philip D; Upchurch, Paul; Tischler, Travis R; Elliott, David A (2021-01-20). "Second specimen of the Late Cretaceous Australian sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae provides new anatomical information on the skull and neck of early titanosaurs". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 192 (2): 610–674. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa173. ISSN 0024-4082.
^Carballido, J.L.; Otero, A.; Mannion, P.D.; Salgado, L.; Moreno, A.P. (2022). "Titanosauria: A Critical Reappraisal of Its Systematics and the Relevance of the South American Record". In Otero, A.; Carballido, J.L.; Pol, D. (eds.). South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Record, Diversity and Evolution. Springer. pp. 269–298. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3. ISBN 978-3-030-95958-6. ISSN 2197-9596. S2CID 248368302.
^Han, F.; Yang, L.; Lou, F.; Sullivan, C.; Xu, X.; Qiu, W.; Liu, H.; Yu, J.; Wu, R.; Ke, Y.; Xu, M.; Hu, J.; Lu, P. (2024). "A new titanosaurian sauropod, Gandititan cavocaudatus gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous of southern China". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 22 (1). 2293038. Bibcode:2024JSPal..2293038H. doi:10.1080/14772019.2023.2293038.
^Beeston, S. L.; Poropat, S. F.; Mannion, P. D.; Pentland, A. H.; Enchelmaier, M. J.; Sloan, T.; Elliott, D. A. (2024). "Reappraisal of sauropod dinosaur diversity in the Upper Cretaceous Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia, through 3D digitisation and description of new specimens". PeerJ. 12. e17180. doi:10.7717/peerj.17180. PMC 11011616.
Diamantinasauria is an extinct clade of somphospondylan titanosauriform sauropod dinosaurs with close affinities to the Titanosauria, known from the early...
consistently found to nest together in a monophyletic clade called the Diamantinasauria, the placement of this clade is inconsistent between analyses. While...
Dongyangosaurus, Erketu, and Pitekunsaurus. This places it in the clade Diamantinasauria sensu Poropat et al. (2021). In 2024, Beeston et al. reviewed the sauropod...
six vertebrae, a radius, and a finger bone Type genus of the clade "Diamantinasauria" Dicraeosaurus hansemanni "Skeleton m", no specimen number given Natural...
†Somphospondyli ("porous vertebrae") †Euhelopodidae (stocky, mostly Asian) †Diamantinasauria (horse-like skulls; restricted to the Southern Hemisphere; may be titanosaurs)...
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