Unranked clade
Valid Extinct

Dicraeosauridae

dicraeosaurid
(Huene 1927)

Dicraeosauridae is a family of diplodocoid sauropods that are the sister group to Diplodocidae. Dicraeosaurids are a part of the Flagellicaudata, along with Diplodocidae. Dicraeosauridae includes genera such as Amargasaurus, Suuwassea, Dicraeosaurus, and Brachytrachelopan. Definitive genera of this family have been found in North America, Africa, and South America. The Asian taxa Lingwulong and Tharosaurus have been suggested to be dicraeosaurids, but some authors disagree with this classification. Dicraeosaurids were alive from the Early or Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. A few dicraeosaurids survived into the Cretaceous, the youngest of which was Amargasaurus.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
36
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Dicraeosauridae
click to enlarge
Amargasaurus lived in the Cretaceous Period, about 100 million years ago.Photo taken in Museum of Victoria (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) © Sainterx · Public domain · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Saurischia Unranked clade
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Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade
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Massopoda Unranked clade
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Sauropodiformes Unranked clade
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Sauropoda Unranked clade
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Gravisauria Unranked clade
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Eusauropoda Unranked clade
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Neosauropoda Unranked clade
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Diplodocoidea Unranked clade
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Diplodocimorpha Unranked clade
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Flagellicaudata Unranked clade
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Dicraeosauridae Unranked clade
Fossil sites 36 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇹🇿 Tanzania
18
🇺🇸 United States
8
🇦🇷 Argentina
8
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe
1
🇿🇦 South Africa
1
Geological formations
Tendaguru
18
Morrison
8
La Amarga
4
Mulichinco
2
Cañadón Calcáreo
1
Kadzi
1
Kirkwood
1
Bajada Colorada
1
Temporal distribution
Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)
4
Valanginian (137.05–132.6 Ma)
3
Berriasian (143.1–137.05 Ma)
1
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
20
Kimmeridgian (154.8–149.2 Ma)
7
Oxfordian (161.5–154.8 Ma)
1
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
F. v. Huene. 1927. Short review of the present knowledge of the Sauropoda. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 9(1):121-126
Bibliography (21)
P. D. Mannion and A. J. Moore. 2025. Critical reappraisal of a putative dicraeosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Gondwana and a revised view of diplodocoid evolutionary relationships and biogeography. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 23(1):2550760 DOI ↗
J. A. Whitlock, J. P. Garderes, and P. Gallina, M. C. Lamanna. 2025. Athenar bermani, a new species of dicraeosaurid sauropod from Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, U.S.A. Palaeontologia Electronica 28(3):a50:1-13 DOI ↗
D. Richmond. 2023. Stratigraphy, sedimentology, and paleoclimatic proxies of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of central Montana. Geology of the Intermountain West 10(16867):223–276 DOI ↗
G. J. Windholz, M. A. Baiano, and F. Bellardini, A. Garrido. 2021. New Dicraeosauridae (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) remains from the La Amarga Formation (Barremian–Aptian, Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Patagonia, Argentina. Cretaceous Research 117:104629 DOI ↗
J. A. Whitlock and J. A. Wilson Mantilla. 2020. The Late Jurassic sauropod dinosaur ‘Morosaurus’ agilis Marsh, 1889 reexamined and reinterpreted as a dicraeosaurid. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(5):e1780600:1-28 DOI ↗
R. A. Coria, F. J. Windholz, and F. Ortega, P. J. Currie. 2019. A new dicraeosaurid sauropod from the Lower Cretaceous (Mulichinco Formation, Valanginian, Neuquén Basin) of Argentina. Cretaceous Research 93:33-48 DOI ↗
P. A. Gallina, S. Apesteguía, and J. I. Canale, A. Haluza. 2019. A new long-spined dinosaur from Patagonia sheds light on sauropod defense system. Scientific Reports 9:1392:1-10 DOI ↗
E. Tschopp and O. Mateus. 2013. The skull and neck of a new flagellicaudatan sauropod from the Morrison Formation and its implication for the evolution and ontogeny of diplodocid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 11(7):853-888 DOI ↗
A. Paulina Carabajal, R. A. Coria, and P. J. Currie, E. B. Koppelhus. 2012. A possible dicraeosaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) cranial endocast from the Early Cretaceous of Patagonia. XXVI Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados. I Jornadas Argentinas Técnicas en Paleontología de Vertebrados. Resúmenes. Ameghiniana 40(4 (suppl.)):R54
S. Apesteguía. 2007. The sauropod diversity of the La Amarga Formation (Barremian), Neuquén (Argentina). Gondwana Research 12:533-546 DOI ↗
O. W. M. Rauhut, K. Remes, and R. Fechner, G. Cladera, P. Puerta. 2005. Discovery of a short-necked sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period of Patagonia. Nature 435:670-672 DOI ↗
J. D. Harris and P. Dodson. 2004. A new diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49(2):197-210
W.-D. Heinrich. 1999. The taphonomy of dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania) based on field sketches of the German Tendaguru Expedition (1909-1913). Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Geowissenschaften Reihe 28:25-61 DOI ↗
J. S. Mcintosh, W. P. Coombs, and D. A. Russell. 1992. A new diplodocid sauropod (Dinosauria) from Wyoming, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 12(2):158-167 DOI ↗
L. Salgado and J. F. Bonaparte. 1991. Un nuevo saurópodo Dicraeosauridae, Amargasaurus cazaui gen. et sp. nov., de la Formación La Amarga, Neocomiano de la provincia del Neuquén, Argentina [Amargasaurus cazaui gen. et sp. nov., a new dicraeosaurid sauropod from the La Amarga Formation, Neocomian of Neuquén province, Argentina]. Ameghiniana 28(3-4):333-346
M. A. Raath and J. S. McIntosh. 1987. Sauropod dinosaurs from the central Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, and the age of the Kadzi Formation. South African Journal of Geology 90(2):107-119
W. Janensch. 1961. Die Gliedmaszen und Gliedmaszengürtel der Sauropoden der Tendaguru-Schichten [The limbs and limb girdles of the sauropods of the Tendaguru Beds]. Palaeontographica, Supplement VII (1) 3(4):177-235
W. Janensch. 1929. Die Wirbelsäule der Gattung Dicraeosaurus [The vertebral column of the type of Dicraeosaurus]. Palaeontographica, Supplement VII (1) 2(1):37-133
W. Janensch. 1929. Material und Formegehalt der Sauropoden in der Ausbeute der Tendaguru-Expedition, 1909-1912 [Material and figured content of sauropods in the yield of the Tendaguru Expedition, 1909-1912]. Palaeontographica, Supplement VII (1) 2(1):3-34
W. Janensch. 1914. Übersicht über die Wirbeltierfauna der Tendaguru-Schichten [Overview of the vertebrate fauna of the Tendaguru beds]. Archiv für Biontologie 3:81-110
C. W. Gilmore. 1907. The type of the Jurassic reptile Morosaurus agilis redescribed, with a note on Camptosaurus. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 32(1519):151-165 DOI ↗