Neosauropoda

Mounted skeleton of Diplodocus carnegii at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, photographed by Scott Robert Anselmo.

Belongs within: Eusauropoda.
Contains: Camarasauromorpha.

The Neosauropoda is defined as the most exclusive clade containing Diplodocus and Saltasaurus. This clade includes many of the most familiar sauropod genera. Its members are divided between two stem-defined clades: Diplodocoidea includes all taxa closer to Diplodocus than Saltasaurus, whereas Macronaria has the inverse definition (Upchurch et al. 2004). The name of the latter clade refers to one of the characteristic features of many of its members, the marked enlargement of the nares in the skull.

Characters (from Upchurch et al. 2004): Subnarial foramen present on premaxilla-maxilla suture facing dorsally; platelike projections at base of maxillary ascending processes meeting each other on midline; canal or preantorbital fenestra present in base of maxillary ascending process; rostral process of quadratojugal contacting caudal end of maxilla; rostroventral corner of infratemporal fenestra terminating level with or in front of rostral rim of orbit; lateral end of ectopterygoid contacting medial surface of maxilla; ascending process of astragalus terminating level with caudal edge; pedal digit V with two phalanges or fewer.

<==Neosauropoda [Homalosauropodidae]
    |  i. s.: Neosodon Moussaye 1885 APS03, UBD04
    |           `--N. praecursor (n. d.) APS03
    |         Tienshanosaurus chitaiensis Young 1937 (n. d.) N85, UBD04
    |         Asiatosaurus (n. d.) N85
    |           |--A. kwangshiensis Hou, Yeh & Zhao 1975 (n. d.) UBD04
    |           `--A. mongoliensis Osborn 1924 (n. d.) UBD04
    |--Macronaria [Camarasauridae] SL01
    |    |  i. s.: Abrosaurus Ouyang 1989 UBD04
    |    |           `--A. dongpoi Ouyang 1989 UBD04
    |    |         ‘Apatosaurus’ minimus Mook 1917 UBD04
    |    |         Volkheimeria Bonaparte 1979 D07, UBD04
    |    |           `--V. chubutensis Bonaparte 1979 UBD04
    |    |         Europasaurus Mateus, Laven & Knötschke 2006 D07
    |    |           `--E. holgeri D07
    |    |--Camarasauromorpha R-TCA06
    |    `--Haplocanthosaurus Hatcher 1903 R-TCA06, UBD04 [incl. Haplocanthus Hatcher 1903 UBD04]
    |         |--H. delfsi McIntosh & Williams 1988 UBD04
    |         `--H. priscus (Hatcher 1903) (see below for synonymy) UBD04
    `--Diplodocoidea [Diplodocimorpha] R-TCA06
         |  i. s.: Atlantosaurus Marsh 1877 [=Titanosaurus Marsh 1877 non Lydekker 1877] N85
         |           `--*A. montanus (Marsh 1877) [=Titanosaurus montanus] UBD04
         |--Amphicoelias Cope 1877 RR05, UBD04
         |    `--A. altus Cope 1877 [incl. A. fragillimus Cope 1878] UBD04
         `--+--Rebbachisauridae UBD04
            |    |--Rebbachisaurus Lavocat 1954 RR05, UBD04
            |    |    `--*R. garasbae Lavocat 1954 WS98
            |    |--Nigersaurus Sereno, Beck et al. 1999 UBD04
            |    |    `--N. taqueti Sereno, Beck et al. 1999 [incl. Rebbachisaurus tamesnensis Lapparent 1960] UBD04
            |    `--Rayososaurus Bonaparte 1996 [incl. Limaysaurus Calvo & Salgado in Novas 1997] UBD04
            |         |--R. agrioensis Bonaparte 1996 UBD04
            |         `--R. tessonei (Calvo & Salgado 1995) [=Rebacchisaurus tessonei, Limaysaurus tessonei] UBD04
            `--Flagellicaudata HD04
                 |--Dicraeosauridae RR05
                 |    |--Amargasaurus Salgado & Bonaparte 1991 RR05, UBD04
                 |    |    |--A. cazaui Salgado & Bonaparte 1991 UBD04
                 |    |    `--A. groeberi D07
                 |    `--+--Brachytrachelopan Rauhut, Remes et al. 2005 RR05
                 |       |    `--*B. mesai Rauhut, Remes et al. 2005 RR05
                 |       `--Dicraeosaurus Janensch 1914 RR05, UBD04 [Dicraeosaurinae]
                 |            |--D. hansemani Janensch 1914 UBD04
                 |            `--D. sattleri Janensch 1914 UBD04
                 `--Diplodocidae RR05
                      |  i. s.: Dyslocosaurus McIntosh, Coombs & Russell 1992 UBD04
                      |           `--D. polyonychius McIntosh, Coombs & Russell 1992 UBD04
                      |         Seismosaurus Gillette 1991 UBD04
                      |           `--S. halli Gillette 1991 UBD04
                      |         Supersaurus Jensen 1985 UBD04
                      |           `--S. vivianae Jensen 1985 [incl. Ultrasauros macintoshi Jensen 1985] UBD04
                      |--Suuwassea Harris & Dodson 2004 RR05, HD04
                      |    `--*S. emilieae Harris & Dodson 2004 HD04
                      `--+--Apatosaurus Marsh 1877 RR05, UBD04 (see below for synonymy)
                         |    |--A. ajax Marsh 1877 (see below for synonymy) UBD04
                         |    |--A. excelsus (Marsh 1879) (see below for synonymy) UBD04
                         |    |--A. louisae Holland 1915 UBD04
                         |    `--A. montanus D07
                         `--Diplodocinae HD04
                              |--Barosaurus Marsh 1890 UBD04
                              |    `--B. lentus Marsh 1890 [incl. B. affinis Marsh 1899] UBD04
                              |--Dinheirosaurus Bonaparte & Mateus 1999 RR05, UBD04
                              |    `--D. lourinhanensis Bonaparte & Mateus 1999 UBD04
                              |--Tornieria Sternfeld 1911 RR05, UBD04
                              |    `--T. africana (Fraas 1908) [=Gigantosaurus africanus, Barosaurus africanus] UBD04
                              `--Diplodocus Marsh 1878 RR05, UBD04
                                   |--D. carnegii Hatcher 1901 UBD04
                                   |--D. hayi Holland 1924 UBD04
                                   |--D. lacustris Marsh 1884 UBD04
                                   `--D. longus Marsh 1878 UBD04

Inorganic: Brontosaurus excelsus minilorientalus Okamura 1987 O87

Apatosaurus Marsh 1877 RR05, UBD04 [incl. Brontosaurus Marsh 1879 UBD04, Elosaurus Peterson & Gilmore 1902 UBD04; Apatosauridae, Apatosaurinae]

Apatosaurus ajax Marsh 1877 [incl. Atlantosaurus immanis Marsh 1878, Ap. laticollis Marsh 1879] UBD04

Apatosaurus excelsus (Marsh 1879) [=Brontosaurus excelsus; incl. B. amplus Marsh 1879, Elosaurus parvus Peterson & Gilmore 1902] UBD04

Haplocanthosaurus priscus (Hatcher 1903) [=Haplocanthus priscus; incl. Haplocanthosaurus utterbacki Hatcher 1903] UBD04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[APS03] Allain, R., & X. Pereda Suberbiola. 2003. Dinosaurs of France. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2 (1): 27–44.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[HD04] Harris, J. D., & P. Dodson. 2004. A new diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49 (2): 197–210.

[N85] Norman, D. 1985 (reprinted 2000). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. Salamander Books: London.

[O87] Okamura, C. 1987. New facts: Homo and all Vertebrata were born simultaneously in the former Paleozoic in Japan. Original Report of the Okamura Fossil Laboratory 15: 347–573.

[RR05] Rauhut, O. W. M., K. Remes, R. Fechner, G. Cladera & P. Puerta. 2005. Discovery of a short-necked sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period of Patagonia. Nature 435: 670–672.

[R-TCA06] Royo-Torres, R., A. Cobos & L. Alcalá. 2006. A giant European dinosaur and a new sauropod clade. Science 314: 1925–1927.

[SL01] Smith, J. B., M. C. Lamanna, K. J. Lacovara, P. Dodson, J. R. Smith, J. C. Poole, R. Giegengack & Y. Attia. 2001. A giant sauropod dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous mangrove deposit in Egypt. Science 292: 1704–1706.

[UBD04] Upchurch, P., P. M. Barrett & P. Dodson. 2004. Sauropoda. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 259–322. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[WS98] Wilson, J. A. & P. C. Sereno. 1998. Early evolution and higher-level phylogeny of sauropod dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 18 (2 Suppl.): 1–68.

Last updated: 6 August 2017.