Opisthocoelicaudiinae

Opisthocoelicaudiinae is a subfamily of titanosaurian dinosaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous period. The name derives from the Greek words opistho meaning "rear", coel meaning "hollow", and caudia meaning "tail". This refers to the unique structure of the vertebrae in the tail, which are concave at the front and convex at the back.

Taxonomy

The subfamily Opisthocoelicaudiinae was first described by Zhang et al. in 1986. The type genus is Opisthocoelicaudia, and the type species is Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii. Other genera that have been assigned to this subfamily include Borealosaurus, Dongbeititan, and Sonidosaurus.

Description

Opisthocoelicaudiines were large, quadrupedal herbivores. They had long necks and tails, and a small head relative to their body size. The most distinctive feature of these dinosaurs is their tail vertebrae, which are opisthocoelous, meaning they are convex at the back and concave at the front. This is a rare condition among dinosaurs, and gives the subfamily its name.

Paleobiology

Opisthocoelicaudiines lived in what is now Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. They were likely to have been slow-moving animals due to their large size. Their diet consisted of plants, as indicated by their dental morphology and body size.

See also

• List of dinosaur subfamilies
• Titanosaur
• Cretaceous