Turiasauria

Turiasauria is a clade of eusauropod dinosaurs known from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. Its members sit within the broader eusauropod radiation but fall outside Neosauropoda, the advanced group that includes the diplodocids and titanosaurs. The clade was first recognized for the Iberian sauropods Turiasaurus, Losillasaurus and Galveosaurus (Royo-Torres and colleagues, 2006), but later finds extended its range to include North American forms like Mierasaurus and Moabosaurus as well as African and Asian material. Turiasaurs are readily distinguished by their heart-shaped tooth crowns, a hallmark trait of the group, along with distinctive features of the neck vertebrae and forelimb bones. The very large body size reached by some turiasaurs shows that gigantism evolved independently in this comparatively basal lineage, not just among the neosauropods.