Ceratosauria

Skeletal reconstruction of Elaphrosaurus bambergi by Jaime Headden.

Belongs within: Neotheropoda.

The Ceratosauria is a relatively basal clade of theropods containing all species more closely related to Ceratosaurus than to birds. Though Ceratosaurus itself came from the Jurassic of North America, the ceratosaurians were a primarily Gondwanan clade, with representatives from South America, Africa and India. As well as larger forms such as Ceratosaurus and the Abelisauridae, the ceratosaurs also included smaller forms such as Elaphrosaurus and the Noasauridae. The Chinese Limusaurus inextricabilis and the African Elaphrosaurus are Late Jurassic cursorial forms that have been described as convergent to the later Ornithomimosauria. Deltadromeus agilis is a relatively large theropod (about eight metres in length) known from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of northern Africa which may be a basal ceratosaur though some authors have placed it in the ceratosaur sister-clade Tetanurae.

<==Ceratosauria [Neoceratosauria]
    |--Spinostropheus XC09
    |--Deltadromeus Sereno, Duthiel et al. 1996 XC09, HMC04
    |    `--D. agilis Sereno, Duthiel et al. 1996 HMC04
    |--+--Limusaurus Xu, Clark et al. 2009 XC09
    |  |    `--*L. inextricabilis Xu, Clark et al. 2009 XC09
    |  `--Elaphrosaurus Janensch 1920 TR04
    |       |--E. bambergi Janensch 1920 TR04
    |       |--E. gautieri Lapparent 1960 (n. d.) MKC04
    |       `--E. iguidiensis Lapparent 1960 (n. d.) MKC04
    `--Ceratosauroidea WS03
         |--Ceratosauridae P88
         |    |--Sarcosaurus Andrews 1921 P88
         |    |    |--S. andrewsi Huene 1932 TR04
         |    |    `--S. woodi Andrews 1921 TR04
         |    `--Ceratosaurus Marsh 1884 TR04
         |         |--C. dentisulcatus Madsen & Welles 2000 TR04
         |         |--C. magnicornis Madsen & Welles 2000 TR04
         |         |--C. meriani D07
         |         |--C. nasicornis Marsh 1884 TR04
         |         `--C. roechlingi Janensch 1925 (n. d.) TR04
         `--Abelisauroidea [Abelisauria] XC09
              |  i. s.: Genusaurus Accarie, Beaudoin et al. 1995 WS03, TR04
              |           `--G. sisteronis Accarie, Beaudoin et al. 1995 TR04
              |         Ligabueino Bonaparte 1996 F12, TR04
              |           `--L. andesi Bonaparte 1996 TR04
              |         Velocisaurus Bonaparte 1991 F12, TR04
              |           `--V. unicus Bonaparte 1991 TR04
              |         Pycnonemosaurus nevesi F12
              |         Berberosaurus liassicus F12
              |         Kryptops palaios F12
              |--Noasauridae [Noasaurinae] XC09
              |    |--Noasaurus Bonaparte & Powell 1980 TR04
              |    |    `--N. leali Bonaparte & Powell 1980 TR04
              |    `--Masiakasaurus Sampson, Carrano & Forster 2001 TR04
              |         `--*M. knopfleri Sampson, Carrano & Forster 2001 SCF01
              `--Abelisauridae [Abelisaurinae] XC09
                   |  i. s.: Tarascosaurus Le Loeuff & Buffetaut 1991 APS03, TR04
                   |           `--T. salluvicus Le Loeuff & Buffetaut 1991 TR04
                   |         Indosuchus Huene & Matley 1933 WS03
                   |           `--*I. raptorius Huene & Matley 1933 WS03
                   |         Indosaurus Huene & Matley 1933 WS03
                   |           `--*I. matleyi Huene & Matley 1933 WS03
                   |         Xenotarsosaurus Martínez, Gimenez et al. 1986 WS03, TR04
                   |           `--X. bonapartei Martínez, Gimenez et al. 1986 TR04
                   |         Majungasaurus Lavocat 1955 WS03, TR04
                   |           `--M. crenatissimus (Depéret 1896) [=Megalosaurus crenatissimus] TR04
                   |         Rugops Sereno, Wilson & Conrad 2004 XC09, D07
                   |           `--R. primus D07
                   |         Ekrixinatosaurus novasi XC09, F12
                   |         Aucasaurus Coria, Chiappe & Dingus 2002 XC09, TR04
                   |           `--A. garridoi Coria, Chiappe & Dingus 2002 TR04
                   |         Genyodectes serus Woodward 1901 (n. d.) P88, TR04
                   |--Ilokelesia Coria & Salgado 1998 TR04
                   |    `--I. aguadagrandensis Coria & Salgado 1998 TR04
                   `--+--Abelisaurus Bonaparte & Novas 1985 TR04
                      |    `--A. comahuensis Bonaparte & Novas 1985 TR04
                      `--Carnotaurinae TR04
                           |--Rajasaurus Wilson, Sereno et al. 2003 WS03
                           |    `--*R. narmadensis Wilson, Sereno et al. 2003 WS03
                           `--+--Majungatholus Sues & Taquet 1979 TR04
                              |    `--M. atopus Sues & Taquet 1979 TR04
                              `--Carnotaurus Bonaparte 1985 TR04
                                   `--C. sastrei Bonaparte 1985 TR04

Ceratosauria incertae sedis:
  Laevisuchus Huene 1932 TR04
    `--*L. indicus Huene 1932 WS03, TR04
  Coeluroides Huene & Matley 1933 TR04, WS03
    `--*C. largus Huene 1932 (n. d.) WS03, TR04
  Dryptosauroides Huene & Matley 1933 TR04, WS03
    `--*D. grandis Huene 1932 (n. d.) WS03, TR04
  Halticosaurus [Halticosauridae] TR04
    `--H. longotarsus Huene 1907-1908 (n. d.) TR04
  Jubbulpuria Huene & Matley 1933 TR04, WS03
    `--*J. tenuis Huene & Matley 1933 (n. d.) WS03
  ‘Labrosaurus’ stechowi Janensch 1925 (n. d.) TR04
  ‘Labrosaurus’ sulcatus Marsh 1896 (n. d.) TR04
  Ornithomimoides Huene & Matley 1933 TR04, WS03
    |--O. barasimlensis Huene & Matley 1933 (n. d.) TR04
    `--O. mobilis Huene & Matley 1933 (n. d.) TR04
  Orthogoniosaurus matleyi Das-Gupta 1930 (n. d.) TR04
  Pterospondylus trielbae Jaekel 1913-1914 (n. d.) TR04
  Tanystrosuchus Kuhn 1963 (n. d.) TR04
    `--*T. posthumus (Huene 1907–1908) (n. d.) [=Tanystrophaeus posthumus] TR04
  Tanystrophaeus willistoni Cope 1887 (n. d.) TR04

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[APS03] Allain, R., & X. Pereda Suberbiola. 2003. Dinosaurs of France. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2 (1): 27–44.

[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.

[F12] Fanti, F. 2012. Cretaceous continental bridges, insularity, and vicariance in the Southern Hemisphere: which route did the dinosaurs take? In: Talent, J. A. (ed.) Earth and Life: Global biodiversity, extinction intervals and biogeographic perturbations through time pp. 883–911. Springer.

[HMC04] Holtz, T. R., Jr, R. E. Molnar & P. J. Currie. 2004. Basal Tetanurae. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 71–110. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[MKC04] Makovicky, P. J., Y. Kobayashi & P. J. Currie. 2004. Ornithomimosauria. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 137–150. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[P88] Paul, G. S. 1988. Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide. Simon & Schuster: New York.

[SCF01] Sampson, S. D., M. T. Carrano & C. A. Forster. 2001. A bizarre predatory dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Nature 409: 504–506.

[TR04] Tykoski, R. S., & T. Rowe. 2004. Ceratosauria. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2^nd ed. pp. 47–70. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[WS03] Wilson, J. A., P. C. Sereno, S. Srivastava, D. K. Bhatt, A. Khosla & A. Sahni. 2003. A new abelisaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of India. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan 31 (1): 1–42.

[XC09] Xu, X., J. M. Clark, J. Mo, J. Choiniere, C. A. Forster, G. M. Erickson, D. W. E. Hone, C. Sullivan, D. A. Eberth, S. Nesbitt, Q. Zhao, R. Hernandez, C.-K. Jia, F.-L. Han & Y. Guo. 2009. A Jurassic ceratosaur from China helps clarify avian digital homologies. Nature 459: 940–944.

Last updated: 11 July 2018.