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Ceratosauria

 
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Ceratosauria
 
 
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Ceratosaurs are members of a group of theropod dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestry with Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus meaning 'horned lizard', in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal....
 than with birds. There is presently no universally agreed upon listing of species or diagnostic characters of Ceratosauria, though they were less derived
Derived

In phylogenetics, a trait is derived if it is present in an organism, but was absent in the last common ancestor of the group being considered. This may also refer to structures that are not present in an organism, but were present in its ancestors, i.e. traits that have undergone secondary loss....
 anatomically than the more diverse Tetanurae
Tetanurae

Tetanurae, or "stiff tails", is a clade that includes most theropod dinosaurs, as well as birds. Tetanurans first appear during the early Jurassic period....
. According to the latest and most accepted theory, Ceratosauria includes the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous theropods Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus meaning 'horned lizard', in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal....
, Elaphrosaurus
Elaphrosaurus

Elaphrosaurus is a genus of carnivore theropod dinosaur from the late Jurassic of Tanzania, 145 mya. Elaphrosaurus was probably a ceratosaur about 6 meters long....
, and Abelisaurus
Abelisaurus

Abelisaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. It was a bipedal carnivore that probably reached 7 to 9 meters in length, although it is known from only one partial skull....
, found primarily (though not exclusively) in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator....
.






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Ceratosaurs are members of a group of theropod dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestry with Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus meaning 'horned lizard', in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal....
 than with birds. There is presently no universally agreed upon listing of species or diagnostic characters of Ceratosauria, though they were less derived
Derived

In phylogenetics, a trait is derived if it is present in an organism, but was absent in the last common ancestor of the group being considered. This may also refer to structures that are not present in an organism, but were present in its ancestors, i.e. traits that have undergone secondary loss....
 anatomically than the more diverse Tetanurae
Tetanurae

Tetanurae, or "stiff tails", is a clade that includes most theropod dinosaurs, as well as birds. Tetanurans first appear during the early Jurassic period....
. According to the latest and most accepted theory, Ceratosauria includes the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous theropods Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus meaning 'horned lizard', in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal....
, Elaphrosaurus
Elaphrosaurus

Elaphrosaurus is a genus of carnivore theropod dinosaur from the late Jurassic of Tanzania, 145 mya. Elaphrosaurus was probably a ceratosaur about 6 meters long....
, and Abelisaurus
Abelisaurus

Abelisaurus is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now South America. It was a bipedal carnivore that probably reached 7 to 9 meters in length, although it is known from only one partial skull....
, found primarily (though not exclusively) in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator....
. Originally, Ceratosauria included the above dinosaurs plus the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Coelophysoidea
Coelophysoidea

Coelophysoids were common dinosaurs of the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods. They were widespread geographically, probably living on all continents....
 (Coelophysis
Coelophysis

Coelophysis , meaning "hollow body form" in reference to its hollow bones , is one of the earliest known genus of dinosaur. It was a small, carnivore biped from North America....
, Dilophosaurus
Dilophosaurus

Dilophosaurus was a theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Period . The name Dilophosaurus has appeared several times in popular culture, such as in the 1993 film Jurassic Park ....
, etc.), implying a much earlier divergence of ceratosaurs from other theropods. However, most recent studies have shown that coelophysoids do not form a clade
Clade

A clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article in the conventional sense of "an a...
 with other ceratosaurs, and should be excluded from this group. Those analysis also imply that the Ceratosauria is probably a sister clade to the Tetanurae
Tetanurae

Tetanurae, or "stiff tails", is a clade that includes most theropod dinosaurs, as well as birds. Tetanurans first appear during the early Jurassic period....
 and thus shares a common ancestor.

Taxonomy

  • Infraorder Ceratosauria
    • Chuandongocoelurus
      Chuandongocoelurus

      Chuandongocoelurus named after the Chuandong in Sichuan Province, China, was a genus of theropod dinosaur first described by Chinese paleontologist He in 1984....
    • Elaphrosaurus
      Elaphrosaurus

      Elaphrosaurus is a genus of carnivore theropod dinosaur from the late Jurassic of Tanzania, 145 mya. Elaphrosaurus was probably a ceratosaur about 6 meters long....
    • ?Lukousaurus
      Lukousaurus

      Lukousaurus is a taxon based on most of a small skull?s snout, displaying distinctive lachrymal horns, found in the Early Jurassic-age Lower Lufeng Formation, Yunnan, China and was described by Yang Zhongjian in 1948....
    • Family Ceratosauridae
      Ceratosauridae

      Ceratosauridae is a family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the infraorder Ceratosauria. Its Type , Ceratosaurus, was first found in Jurassic rocks from North America....
      • Ceratosaurus
        Ceratosaurus

        Ceratosaurus meaning 'horned lizard', in reference to the horn on its nose , was a large predatory dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period , found in the Morrison Formation of North America, in Tanzania and Portugal....
      • Genyodectes
        Genyodectes

        Genyodectes is a genus of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of South America. The holotype material was collected from the Ca?ad?n Grande, Departamento Paso de Indios in the Chubut Province of Argentina and consists of an incomplete snout, including the premaxillae, portions of both maxillas, the right and left d...
    • Superfamily Abelisaur
      Abelisaur

      Abelisaurs were a group of Ceratosaurian dinosaurs which lived all over the southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous period. Some well-known species include Abelisaurus, Carnotaurus, and Majungasaurus....
      oidea
      • Genusaurus
        Genusaurus

        Genusaurus is a genus of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous. It was a ceratosaur possibly related to Carnotaurus. Its fossils were found in France....
      • Ozraptor
        Ozraptor

        Ozraptor was an abelisaurian dinosaur that lived during the Middle Jurassic period of Australia. Only known from one partial leg bone, Ozraptor is difficult to classify....
      • Spinostropheus
        Spinostropheus

        Spinostropheus is a genus of small ceratosaurian dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period of Niger. Originally thought to be a species of the closely related Elaphrosaurus, subsequent studies have found that it is more closely related to the abelisaurs....
      • Tarascosaurus
        Tarascosaurus

        Tarascosaurus is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur from Late Cretaceous France. It is the only known abelisaurid from the Northern Hemisphere, but is known from only a few bones....
      • Family Abelisauridae
        Abelisauridae

        Abelisauridae is a family of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Abelisaurids thrived during the Cretaceous Period , on the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana, and today their fossil remains are found on the modern continents of Africa and South America, as well as on the Indian subcontinent and the island of Madagascar....
      • Family Noasauridae
        Noasauridae

        Noasaurids were a group of theropod dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period. They ranged from small to very large . They were closely related to and built similarly to the Abelisauridae, though most were much smaller....


External links

  • at DinoData