Aeolosaurini is characterized by severalsynapomorphies of the caudal vertebrae, such as angled centra, elongate prezygapophyses, and neural arches shifted anteriorly relative to the centra. In life, their tails may have been strongly curved downward as a result of these traits, which may have increased the force exerted by the caudofemoralis longus muscle in retracting the hindlimb.[5] Some aeolosaurins, such asShingopana andOverosaurus, were relatively small compared to other titanosaurs,[6][7] whereas others, such asAeolosaurus maximus, were large.[4]
Aeolosaurini was defined by Franco-Rosas, Salgado, Rosas and Carvalho (2004) as thestem-based taxon that corresponds to the most-inclusive clade containingAeolosaurus rionegrinus andGondwanatitan faustoi, but notSaltasaurus loricatus andOpisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii.[8] Below is acladogram showing the phylogenetic relationships of Aeolosaurini-based Santucci and Arruda-Campos (2011), from Francaet al. (2016) on the left, and Silvaet al. (2019) on the right.[4][9][10]
^Silva, J.C. jr.; Martinelli, A.G.; Iori, F.V.; Marinho, T.S.; Hechenleitner, E.M.; Langer, M.C. (2021). "Reassessment ofAeolosaurus maximus, a titanosaur dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Southeastern Brazil".Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology.34 (3):403–411.doi:10.1080/08912963.2021.1920016.S2CID235526860.
^Santucci, R.M.; Filippi, L.S. (2022). "Last Titans: Titanosaurs From the Campanian–Maastrichtian Age". In Otero, A.; Carballido, J.L.; Pol, D. (eds.).South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Record, Diversity and Evolution. Springer. pp. 341–391.doi:10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3.ISBN978-3-030-95958-6.ISSN2197-9596.S2CID248368302.
^da Silva Vidal, Luciano; Pereira, Paulo Victor Luiz Gomes da Costa; Tavares, Sandra; Brusatte, Stephen L.; Bergqvist, Lílian Paglarelli; Candeiro, Carlos Roberto dos Anjos (2020-04-13). "Investigating the enigmatic Aeolosaurini clade: the caudal biomechanics of Aeolosaurus maximus (Aeolosaurini/Sauropoda) using the neutral pose method and the first case of protonic tail condition in Sauropoda".Historical Biology.33 (9):1836–1856.doi:10.1080/08912963.2020.1745791.S2CID218822392.
^Coria, Rodolfo A.; Filippi, Leonardo S.; Chiappe, Luis M.; García, Rodolfo; Arcucci, Andrea B. (2013-07-05). "Overosaurus paradasorum gen. et sp. nov., a new sauropod dinosaur (Titanosauria: Lithostrotia) from the Late Cretaceous of Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina".Zootaxa.3683 (4):357–376.doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3683.4.2.hdl:11336/21928.PMID25250458.
^Franco-Rosas, A. C.;et al. (2004). Nuevos materiales de titanosaurios (Sauropoda) en el Cretácico Superior de Mato Grosso, Brasil [New materials of titanosaurs (Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mato Grosso, Brazil].Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia.7(3): 329-336.
