Re: Allosauroid cladogram

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

Dann Pigdon wrote-

> It's interesting that Fukuiraptor seems to be quite basal in this
> cladogram. I thought it was considered closer to Sinraptorids?

It's only been included in one published analysis, Azuma and Currie's (2000)
one in its description.  Though quite flawed (Jaime and I went over the
first 60 or so characters at one point and found numerous problems), the
result is-

|--Herrerasaurus
`--+--+--Fukuiraptor
   |  `--+--Sinraptor
   |     `--+--Allosaurus
   |        `--Acrocanthosaurus
   `--+--Sinosauropteryx
      `--+--+--Tyrannosauridae
         |  `--Ornithomimidae
         `--+--Oviraptoridae
            `--Dromaeosauridae

As you see, Fukuiraptor is basal within Carnosauria.  I trust Holtz's (2001)
SVP 2001 analysis more (only carnosaurian taxa shown)-

|-Monolophosaurus
|-Lourinhanosaurus
|-Sinraptor
|-Allosaurus
|-+-Fukuiraptor
| `-Siamotyrannus
`-+-Neovenator
  `-+-Acrocanthosaurus
    `-+-Carcharodontosaurus
      `-Giganotosaurus

Maybe you thought it was close to sinraptorids based on the skeletal
reconstruction (based on Sinraptor) in the description, or the continent it
was discovered in.

Mickey Mortimer