Classification
The scientific classification of Camarasaurus, using the Linnaean system, is given in the box to the upper right but, among palaeontologists, this method of taxonomic classification of dinosaurs is being supplanted by the cladistics inspired phylogenetic taxonomy. A simplified version of one possible branching evolutionary tree, showing the relationship between Camarasaurus and the other major groups of sauropods, follows:
Saurischia ("lizard hipped" dinosaurs) `--Sauropoda ("lizard feet") |--Macronaria ("large nostrils") | |--Camarasaurus | `--Titanosauriformes | |--Brachiosauridae (which includes Brachiosaurus and Sauroposeidon) | `--Titanosauria (including Argentinosaurus) `--Diplodocoidea (including Apatosaurus, Diplodocus)Camarasaurus is considered to be a basal macronarian, more closely related to the common ancestor of all macronarians than to more derived forms like Brachiosaurus.
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