Re: Giganotosaurus skull or skeletal restorations?

[NJPharris@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-06-21 01:53:55 EDT, j-dyal@geocities.com (Joshua Dyal)
writes:

> Is there a verdict on the relationship of Giganotosaurus?  Was it an
>  abelisaur, an allosaur, or something different?

AFAIK, the verdict is as much in on _Giganotosaurus_ as it can be.  The
majority opinion is that it is a member of the Carcharodontosauridae, which
also includes _Acrocanthosaurus_, _Carcharodontosaurus_, and (I think) the
type material of _Bahariasaurus_.  

They are the sister group to the Allosauridae (_Allosaurus_,
?_Saurophaganax_, ?_Neovanator_).  The outgroup to these two families is the
Sinraptoridae (_Sinraptor_, _Yangchuanosuaurus_, _"Szechuanosaurus"_,
?_Metriacanthosaurus_).  I believe, though in this case majority opinion does
not appear to be on my side, that the closest relative of all of the above is
_Afrovenator_.

Nick Pharris