Evolution of the sauropod body plan, with special emphasis on limbs and girdles

蜥脚类恐龙是迄今为止在地球上生活过的最大的陆地动物。为什么只有这些动物达到如此巨大的比例，以及是什么使它们能够做到这一点，在很大程度上仍然是未知的。为了了解蜥脚类动物的进化和进化，对它们的近亲和基础形式的相互关系的详细了解是必不可少的。在分析基底蜥颅类恐龙的相互关系的框架内，也可以研究它们解剖结构的关键复合体的进化。必须支撑庞大蜥脚类动物的四肢和肢带是这些关键复合体之一。因此，在本项目中，基底蜥脚类，包括“原蜥脚类”，基底兽脚类，和基底蜥脚类的系统发育关系，将进行分析和骨骼学数据从各种各样的蜥脚类类群将被用于与肌肉和骨骼学数据相结合，从最近的关系重建蜥脚类肢体的进化历史。结合该研究小组其他项目的数据，将对结果进行解释，以确定可能的“关键适应”，预适应以及进化变化与身体大小之间的相关性，以提高我们对蜥脚类恐龙的起源的理解。

Sauropod dinosaurs are by far the largest land living animals that ever lived on Earth. It is still largely unknown why only these animals attained such gigantic proportions and what enabled them to do so. To understand the origin and evolution of gigantism in sauropods, a detailed knowledge of the interrelationships of their closets relatives and basal forms is essential. Within the framework of an analysis of the interrelationships of basal saurischian dinosaurs, the evolution of key complexes of their anatomy can also be investigated. The limbs and limb girdles that had to support the mass of gigantic sauropods are one of these key complexes. Thus, in the present project, the phylogenetic relationships of basal saurischians, including "prosauropods", basal theropods, and basal sauropods, will be analysed and osteological data from a wide variety of saurischian taxa will be used in combination with myological and osteological data from Recent relatices to reconstruct the evolutionary history of sauropod limbs. In combination with data from other projects within this research group, the result will then be interpreted to identify possible "key adaptations", preadaptations, and correlations between evolutionary changes and body size to improve our understanding of the origin of sauropod gigantism.