Sauropodomorpha
Nigersaurus taqueti
- Sauropodomorpha
- Sauropoda
- Neosauropoda
- Diplodocoidea
- Rebbachisauridae
Sauropodomorpha
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Nigersaurus is a bizarre-seeming rebbachisaurid from the Cretaceous of (surprise!) Niger. Unlike long and medium-necked relatives, Nigersaurus had a short neck barely more than long enough to graze plants close to the ground. And to go with its grazing adaptations, its skull had a broad, straight-edged muzzle packing hundreds of teeth into a dental battery - in some ways it looked like a sauropod trying to become a hadrosaur (though with lots of little teeth instead of a beak).
The fact that true grazing diplodocoids are known, with clear adaptations for feeding in this manner should potentially be a note of caution for those arguing that longer-necked diplodocids were also grazing specialists.