Euhelopodidae


Euhelopodidae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs which includes the genus Euhelopus. All known euhelopodids lived in what is now East Asia. The family name was first proposed by American paleontologist Alfred Sherwood Romer in 1956. The four genera Chiayusaurus, Omeisaurus, Tienshanosaurus, and Euhelopus were the original proposed euhelopodines. Other genera such as Mamenchisaurus and Shunosaurus were formerly placed within this family, but these are now regarded as more basal sauropods.
Michael D'Emic formulated the first phylogenetic definition of Euhelopodidae, defining it as the clade containing "neosauropods more closely related to Euhelopus zdanskyi than to Neuquensaurus australis". Below is a cladogram presenting the cladistic hypothesis of Euhelopodidae proposed by D'Emic.