- Carnosauria
Taxobox |
name = Carnosaurs
fossil_range =Jurassic –Late Cretaceous
image_width = 200px
image_caption = A replica "Allosaurus " skeleton.
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo =Dinosaur ia
ordo =Saurischia
subordo =Theropoda
infraordo = Carnosauria
infraordo_authority = von Huene, 1920
subdivision_ranks = Families
subdivision =Allosauridae Carcharodontosauridae Sinraptoridae Carnosauria is a group of large
predator ydinosaur s that lived during theJurassic andCretaceous periods. While it originally contained a wide assortment of gianttheropod s that were not closely related, the group has since been defined to encompass only the allosaurs and their closest kin. Recently, scientists have discovered some very large carnosaurs in the carcharodontosaurid family such as "Giganotosaurus " and "Tyrannotitan " which are among the largest known predatory dinosaurs.Distinctive characteristics of carnosaurs include large eyes, a long narrow
skull and modifications of the legs andpelvis such as the thigh (femur ) being longer than the shin (tibia ).ystematics
Modern cladistic analysis defines Carnosauria as those dinosaurs sharing a more recent common ancestor with "
Allosaurus " than with modern birds. [http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/faq/s-class/phyletic/index.html]Taxonomy
Carnosauria has traditionally been used as a dumping ground for all large theropods, but analysis in the 1980s and 1990s revealed that other than size, the group shared very few characteristics. Most former carnosaurs were reclassified as more primitive theropods. Others were placed in
Coelurosauria if they were more closely related to birds, like thetyrannosaurid s. Other former carnosaurs include themegalosaurid s, thespinosaurid s, and theceratosaur s. Even non-dinosaurs have been considered carnosaurs, such as therauisuchia n "Teratosaurus ".*Infraorder Carnosauria
**"Erectopus "
**"Fukuiraptor "
**"Gasosaurus "?
**"Megaraptor "?
**"Monolophosaurus "
**"Siamotyrannus "
**SuperfamilyAllosauroidea
***"Becklespinax "?
***FamilyAllosauridae
***FamilyCarcharodontosauridae
***FamilySinraptoridae "Carnosaurus"
"Carnosaurus" is an informal generic name, attributed to
Friedrich von Huene , 1929, that is sometimes seen in lists of dinosaurs. It is probably a typographical error; von Huene intended to assign indeterminate remains to Carnosauria "incertae sedis ", but at some point in the process of publication, the text was revised to make it appear that he was creating a new generic name "Carnosaurus" (as described byGeorge Olshevsky in a 1999 post to the Dinosaur Mailing List). The name is undescribed and has not been used seriously.References
* (on "Carnosaurus")
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