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Re: Carnosaurs!



Rachel Clark wrote:

>Okay, my guess is that virtually all of us are aware that /Tyrannosaurus/ and
>her kin are carnosaur no more.  I was also aware that the terms "coelurosaur"
>and "carnosaur" were redefined and another basic theropod group was conjured
>so that the Theropoda would make sense -- wasn't it the ceratosaurs?  
>
>Anyway, exactly /how/ are "coelurosaur," "carnosaur," and "ceratosaur"
>defined?  I recall that someone said that carnosaurs are all theropods more
>closely related to /Allosaurus/ than to birds (my memory's pretty bleak).  If
>it went something like that, this might mean that a dinosaur well-known as a
>coelurosaur would now be a carnosaur -- /Ornitholestes/!  

Coelurosauria, definition of Gauthier, 1986:  birds and all theropods closer
to birds than to Carnosauria.

(replace "Carnosauria" with "Allosaurus" in more recent clarifications).

Ceratosauria, definition of Rowe 1989:  Ceratosaurus and all theropods
closer to Ceratosaurs than to birds.

Carnosauria, definition of Holtz and Padian, 1995:  Allosaurus and all
theropods closer to Allosaurus than to birds.

Most recent studies put Ornitholestes in Coelurosauria rather than
Carnosauria.

(Note that if Ceratosaurus turns out to be closer to Allosaurus than to
birds, then Carnosauria becomes a junior subjective synonym of Ceratosauria).

>Rachel K. Clark

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist     Webpage: http://www.geol.umd.edu
Dept. of Geology              Email:th81@umail.umd.edu
University of Maryland        Phone:301-405-4084
College Park, MD  20742       Fax:  301-314-9661

"There are some who call me...  Tim."