As one of the most completely known basal sauropods, Spinophorosaurus has helped to shed light on the early evolution and palaeobiogeography of the group.
This has been unclear due to a sparsity of Early and Middle Jurassic remains, particularly outside Asia.
Remes and colleagues found that Spinophorosaurus shares features with Middle Jurassic East Asian sauropods (especially in the neck and tail vertebrae, scapula and humerus) but is very dissimilar from Lower and Middle Jurassic South American and Indian taxa (differences include the shape and development of vertebra features and shape of the scapula and humerus).
They suggested this could be explained by the Middle Jurassic sauropod faunas of Laurasia (the northern supercontinent of the time) and South Gondwana (the southern supercontinent) having been separated by geographic barriers.
Earlier it was believed that sauropods were distributed across the supercontinent Pangaea (which was composed of Laurasia and Gondwana) during the Early and early Middle Jurassic.
It had relatively little diversity, until the continent broke up and led to sauropod groups evolving in isolation through vicariance during the late Middle and Late Jurassic.
Spinophorosaurus shows that features once thought to be derived among East Asian sauropods are rather plesiomorphic (ancestral traits) among eusauropods (eusauropods that colonised Laurasia retained the basal features also seen in Spinophorosaurus).
The eusauropods which colonised South Gondwana were a specialised line of the group which had lost said ancestral features during isolation.
Remes and colleagues noted that more evidence was needed to support these interpretations but were confident that there was a connection between Jurassic sauropods of North Africa, Europe, and East Asia.

As indicated by the anatomy of Spinophorosaurus and the pattern of Middle Jurassic sauropod distribution, important developments in sauropod evolution may have occurred in North Africa.
It was close to the equator and had a summer-wet climate in the Early and Middle Jurassic, with high plant productivity and diversity.
On the other hand, the sauropods of South Gondwana were isolated from the equatorial region by the Central Gondwanan Desert in the Early Jurassic, leading to differences in South and North Gondwanan floras.
When the desert shrank in the late Middle Jurassic, neosauropods appeared and replaced the sauropod fauna that had been typical of the Middle Jurassic.
Since Jobaria of North Africa is close to the base of Neosauropoda, and because neosauropods such as diplodocoids were widely distributed in the Upper Jurassic, neosauropods and some of their subgroups may also have originated in the equatorial region of Jurassic Pangaea, which may have acted as a "hot spot" in sauropod evolution.
The Jurassic diversification of sauropods was possibly controlled by climatic zones and plant biogeography, rather than just continental differentiation.
As one of the most completely known basal sauropods, Spinophorosaurus has helped to shed light on the early evolution and palaeobiogeography of the group. This has been unclear due to a sparsity of Early and Middle Jurassic remains, particularly outside Asia. Remes and colleagues found that Spinophorosaurus shares features with Middle Jurassic East Asian sauropods (especially in the neck and tail vertebrae, scapula and humerus) but is very dissimilar from Lower and Middle Jurassic South American and Indian taxa (differences include the shape and development of vertebra features and shape of the scapula and humerus). They suggested this could be explained by the Middle Jurassic sauropod faunas of Laurasia (the northern supercontinent of the time) and South Gondwana (the southern supercontinent) having been separated by geographic barriers. Earlier it was believed that sauropods were distributed across the supercontinent Pangaea (which was composed of Laurasia and Gondwana) during the Early and early Middle Jurassic. It had relatively little diversity, until the continent broke up and led to sauropod groups evolving in isolation through vicariance during the late Middle and Late Jurassic. Spinophorosaurus shows that features once thought to be derived among East Asian sauropods are rather plesiomorphic (ancestral traits) among eusauropods (eusauropods that colonised Laurasia retained the basal features also seen in Spinophorosaurus). The eusauropods which colonised South Gondwana were a specialised line of the group which had lost said ancestral features during isolation. Remes and colleagues noted that more evidence was needed to support these interpretations but were confident that there was a connection between Jurassic sauropods of North Africa, Europe, and East Asia.
As indicated by the anatomy of Spinophorosaurus and the pattern of Middle Jurassic sauropod distribution, important developments in sauropod evolution may have occurred in North Africa. It was close to the equator and had a summer-wet climate in the Early and Middle Jurassic, with high plant productivity and diversity. On the other hand, the sauropods of South Gondwana were isolated from the equatorial region by the Central Gondwanan Desert in the Early Jurassic, leading to differences in South and North Gondwanan floras. When the desert shrank in the late Middle Jurassic, neosauropods appeared and replaced the sauropod fauna that had been typical of the Middle Jurassic. Since Jobaria of North Africa is close to the base of Neosauropoda, and because neosauropods such as diplodocoids were widely distributed in the Upper Jurassic, neosauropods and some of their subgroups may also have originated in the equatorial region of Jurassic Pangaea, which may have acted as a "hot spot" in sauropod evolution. The Jurassic diversification of sauropods was possibly controlled by climatic zones and plant biogeography, rather than just continental differentiation.
Spinophorosaurus