Macronaria

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iMacronarians Fossil range: Jurassic–Cretaceous
Giraffatitan brancai by John Conway
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Saurischia Suborder: Sauropodomorpha Infraorder: Sauropoda (unranked) Macronaria
Families
Camarasauridae Brachiosauridae Nemegtosauridae Saltasauridae

The Macronaria were a clade of sauropods from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) to Late Cretaceous Periods of what are now North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The name means 'large nostrils', in reference to the large nasal openings high on the head that probably supported fleshy resonating chambers. The clade was last redefined by Paul Sereno in 2005 (altering the internal specifiers from genera to species), as the group containing all species closer to Saltasaurus loricatus than to Diplodocus longus. Macronaria consists of two main groups: the family Camarasauridae, and the clade Titanosauriformes. Titanosauriformes in turn contains the brachiosaurids and the titanosaurians and is the one of the largest sauropod groups, which also contains most of the longest, tallest and most massive dinosaurs of all time.

[edit] Taxonomy

Suborder Sauropodomorpha

• MACRONARIA
  • Family Camarasauridae
    • Cathetosaurus
    • Phuwiangosaurus
    • Aragosaurus
    • Camarasaurus
  • Titanosauriformes
    • ?Cedarosaurus
    • ?Huabeisaurus
    • ?Venenosaurus
    • Europasaurus
    • Fusuisaurus
    • Family Brachiosauridae
      • Lusotitan
      • Brachiosaurus
      • Giraffatitan
      • Sauroposeidon
    • Superfamily Titanosauroidea
      • Family Euhelopodidae
      • Euhelopus
      • Erketu
      • Titanosauria
        • Family Nemegtosauridae
        • Family Saltasauridae
          • Opisthocoelicaudia
            • Subfamily Saltasaurinae
              • Neuquensaurus
              • Saltasaurus

[edit] References

• Upchurch, P. (1998). "The Phylogenetic relationships of sauropod dinosaurs". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 128(1): 43–103.