A new theropod cladogram

[Stang1996@aol.com]

Before you say it, yes I know there is no way in hell this will line up, but
oh well.

Ce   M   Ca   O   Ar   Ty   Bu   Al   Bi
  \      \     \     \     \      \     \      \   /
    \      \     \     \     \      \     \      1
      \      \     \     \     \      \     \   /
        \      \     \     \     \      \     2
          \      \     \     \     \      \  /
            \      \     \     \     \     3
              \      \     \     \     \  /
                \      \     \     \    4
                  \      \     \     \  /
                    \      \     \    5
                      \      \     \  /
                        \     \     6
                          \     \  /
                            \    7
                              \ /
                               8

Ce = Ceratosauria; M = Megalosauroidea; Ca = Carnosauria; Or =
Ornitholestidae; Ar = Archaeopterygiformes (including Oviraptorisauria); Ty =
Tyrannosauroidea (?including Compsignathidae); Bu = Bullatosauria; Al =
Alvarezsauria; Bi = all other Birds.

1 is unnamed (AFAIK); 2 is unnamed (AFAIK); 3 is arctometatarsalia; 4 is
Maniraptora or Manuraptoriformes or Avialae or Aves (take your pick); 5 is
Coeluria (or Coelurosauria); 6 is Avetheropoda or Neotetanurae; 7 is
Tetanurae; 8 is Theropoda.

I think that this is basically the cladogram that people are arguing about.
 Alvarezsaurs are a sister group to "all other birds" (real scientific, I
know) and have members like Alverezsaurus, Mononykus, and Patagonychus.
 Bullatosauria is the sister group to that and includes Troodontids and
Ornithomimosaurs (oh, and maybe segnosaurs).  The sister group to all that is
the Tyrannosauroidea.  Put altogether that is Arctometatarsalia.  The sister
group to Arctometatarsalia is Archaeopterygiformes which IMHO includes
Oviraptors.  All that together was Maniraptora *when* Archaeopteryx was
thought to be closer to birds than Dromeosaurs were AND Ornithomimosaurs were
thought to be closer to other theropods than to birds.  This group is however
the same as Avialae (all the descendents of the common ancestor of
Archaeopteryx and [your favorite extant bird here]), which is the same as
Aves.  Add on the Ornitholestidae and you have Coeluria which is the proper
name for the group commonly called Coelurosauria.  Add on to that, the
Carnosauria (I would very much prefer Paul's Allosauria, but I would be the
only that would use it), and you have Avetheropoda, which is the same as
Neotetanurae (I don't use neo- names if I can help it).  Add onto that, the
Megalosauroidea and you have the Tetanurae.  Add onto that, the Ceratosauria,
and you have Theropoda.  That is, if you go along with this phylogeny; which
IMHO is the most parsimonious.

On an aside, I am in high school (as you may or may not have known) and you
should see the looks I get when I say 'parsimonious.'  HA!  You guys have
ruined me!  I can never speek normal English (I'ng'gli'sh') again!

Peter Buchholz
Stang1996@aol.com