Macronaria

Macronaria is a clade of sauropod dinosaurs that takes its name from the enlarged nasal opening of the skull, which exceeds the size of the eye socket. Nested within Neosauropoda as the sister group to Diplodocoidea, it encompasses Camarasauridae and Titanosauriformes, and so includes such animals as Camarasaurus, Brachiosaurus, and the titanosaurs, with camarasauromorphs forming its most basal branch. Macronarians lived from the Middle Jurassic through the end of the Cretaceous and have been found across the globe, from Argentina and the United States to Portugal, China, and Tanzania. In addition to their large nostrils, they are distinguished by box-like skulls bearing broad, spoon-shaped teeth, unlike the elongate skulls and peg-like teeth of the diplodocoids. Their body sizes diverged dramatically: some titanosaurs such as Argentinosaurus rank among the largest land animals ever to have existed, while others, including Saltasaurus and Magyarosaurus, dwindled to just a few metric tons.