Massopoda is a clade of sauropodomorph dinosaurs which lived during the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous epochs. It was named by paleontologist Adam M. Yates of the University of the Witwatersrand in 2007. Massopoda is a stem-based taxon, defined as all animals more closely related to Saltasaurus loricatus than to Plateosaurus engelhardti. Sauropodiformes is a more exclusive stem-based clade within Massopoda, defined as "the most inclusive clade containing Saltasaurus but not Massospondylus".
The name Massopoda, from Latin massa 'lump'; from Ancient Greek πους (pous) 'foot', is also contraction of Massospondylidae and Sauropoda, two disparate taxa in the clade.
Classification
Yates assigned the Massopoda to Plateosauria. Within the clade, he assigned the families Massospondylidae (which includes the relatively well-known dinosaur Massospondylus) and Riojasauridae (which includes Riojasaurus) as well as the Sauropoda.
The following is a cladogram from an analysis presented by Oliver W. M. Rauhut and colleagues in 2020:
References
