Avetheropoda

Summary

Avetheropoda, or "bird theropods", is a clade that includes Carnosaurs and coelurosaurs to the exclusion of other Dinosaurs.

Avetheropods
Temporal range:
Middle JurassicPresent, 174–0 Ma Possible Early Jurassic record
Mounted Allosaurus fragilis skeleton cast, San Diego Natural History Museum
Kiwi with its egg (1913)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Orionides
Clade: Avetheropoda
Paul, 1988
Subgroups
Synonyms

Definition edit

Avetheropoda was named by Gregory S. Paul in 1988,[2] and was first defined as a clade by Currie and Padian in 1997, to include Allosaurus, modern birds, and other animals descended from their most recent ancestor. In 1999, Paul Sereno named another group, Neotetanurae, for the clade containing Allosauroidea and Coelurosauria, and excluding other tetanurans such as megalosauroids,[3] but this definition was published slightly later. A monophyletic Avetheropoda is recovered in many papers; however, recent findings suggest a monophyletic Carnosauria model with allosauroids and megalosauroids as each other's closest relatives instead of Allosauroids and Coelurosaurs.[4]

Classification edit

The cladogram presented below follows a phylogenetic analysis published by Zanno and Makovicky in 2013.[5]

Orionides
Megalosauroidea

Piatnitzkysauridae  

Megalosauria

Spinosauridae 

Megalosauridae 

Avetheropoda

Coelurosauria 

Allosauroidea

Metriacanthosauridae 

Allosauria

Allosauridae 

Carcharodontosauria

Neovenatoridae 

Carcharodontosauridae  

References edit

  1. ^ Rauhut, Oliver W. M.; Pol, Diego (2019-12-11). "Probable basal allosauroid from the early Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of Argentina highlights phylogenetic uncertainty in tetanuran theropod dinosaurs". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 18826. Bibcode:2019NatSR...918826R. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53672-7. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 6906444. PMID 31827108.
  2. ^ Paul, G. S. (1988). Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-61946-2.
  3. ^ Sereno, P. C. (1999). "The evolution of dinosaurs". Science. 284 (5423): 2137–2147. doi:10.1126/science.284.5423.2137. PMID 10381873.
  4. ^ Rauhut (2019-12-11). ""Probable basal allosauroid from the early Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of Argentina highlights phylogenetic uncertainty in tetanuran theropod dinosaurs"". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 18826. Bibcode:2019NatSR...918826R. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53672-7. PMC 6906444. PMID 31827108.
  5. ^ Zanno, L. E.; Makovicky, P. J. (2013). "Neovenatorid theropods are apex predators in the Late Cretaceous of North America". Nature Communications. 4: 2827. Bibcode:2013NatCo...4.2827Z. doi:10.1038/ncomms3827. PMID 24264527.