Torvosauroidea was [R: Torvosaurus & Giganotosaurus]

["Alessandro Marisa" <amaris@tin.it>]

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. <th81@umail.umd.edu>
A: THammann@t-online.de <THammann@t-online.de>
Cc: dinosaur@usc.edu <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Data: giovedì 20 maggio 1999 14.40
Oggetto: Re: Torvosaurus & Giganotosaurus

>I'm astonished anyone ever called _Torvosaurus_ an allosaurid: it is a much
>more primitive animal.  Whether it is a megalosaurid is a different
>question: it could form a clade with _Megalosaurus_ to the exclusion of
>avetheropods, but possibly not.  What is pretty secure is that
_Torvosaurus_
>is a primitive tetanurine.
>Greg Paul's illustrations of _Torvosaurus_ (there called _Megalosaurus
>tanneri_) in Predatory Dinosaurs of the World are still the best available.

Well, first of all Paul illustration on Torvosaurus is beautifull, but there
are some question that I don't have an answer, first, is a lot of time that
on the web I see in the Theropoda classification that there are a strange
clade (for me) the Torvosauroidea (Torvosauridae + Spinosauridae) I have
read the cranial anatomy on Torvosaurus, in Britt 1991, (and stay to read
the axial and appendicular anatomy) but I don't see any similarities with
the Spinosauridae, please, does someone tell me what is the characters that
unites Torvosauridae with Spinosauridae in the clade Torvosauroidea or
Spinosauroidea?
I think that is much probable that Spinosauridae can be a lineage with the
ancestor within the Coelophysoidea expecially in the "Halticosaurinae" (es.
presence of a subnarial gap, presence of a sagittal crest etc), and
Torvosauridae have the ancestor within Ceratosauridae.

By
Alessandro Marisa
 "Volunteer of Paleontological Museum of Monfalcone"
Via Achille Grandi n°18
38068 ROVERETO (TN) ITALY
Tel: 039-0464-434658 Email: amaris@tin.it