View Details:  Prev Record    Next Record
Clade
Subclade

Taxon
Taxon
Neotetanurae
Nominal Author
Sereno et al. 1994
2nd Nominal Author
Taxon Status ACTIVE
Comments

Sereno (1994) coined the taxon Neotetanurae for a clade of advanced tetanurines that includes most of the taxa in Paul’s Avetheropoda. Approximately one month earlier (using publication dates), Holtz (1994) applied Paul’s taxon Avetheropoda to the same clade. No explicit definitions were proposed by either author at this time, but now two names were applied to the same clade (for a discussion of this, see Sereno 1999b).

Neotetanurae was identified as a node-based taxon by Sereno (1997) and defined as such the following year (Sereno 1998). The active definition of Neotetanurae used in this compilation is a first-order revision of that definition that includes two additional specifiers to stabilize the taxonomic content of the clade (under conceivable alternative arrangements of basal taxa currently regarded as allosauroids).

Avetheropoda was coined by Paul (1988; see below) and first defined by Padian et al. (1999) using a node-based definition identical to that used for Neotetanurae by Sereno (1998). Holtz (2000) and Chure (2001) cited this same definition for Avetheropoda (note that Holtz’s paper of 2000 is sometimes cited as “1998” although clearly published at a later date; the bibliography includes an accurate citation to Padian et al. 1999). But the genesis of the use of this definition for Avetheropoda requires further explanation.

This definition was inserted in a revision of the manuscript later published as Padian et al. (1999). This manuscript originally did not include a definition for Avetheropoda—until after the authors were sent a copy of a paper in press (Sereno 1998). In their revision, these authors did two things. First, they decided not to adapt or otherwise minimize the differences in phylogenetic definitions for theropods that existed between their manuscript and one in press (Sereno 1998). Instead, they added a section at the end of the paper, “Note Added In Revision” (Padian et al. 1999:77), which refered to the paper in press (Sereno 1998) as a “paper in manuscript”. Second, other changes were made to the body of the paper, including insertion of Sereno’s (1998) term “node-stem triplet” (Padian et al. 1999:75) and the insertion of a node-based definition for Avetheropoda identical to that used for Neotetanurae (Sereno 1998).

Several statements in the literature made about Neotetanurae and Avetheropoda are not only inaccurate but also disingenuous in this light. Padian and Currie (1997:39) remarked that Avetheropoda . . .was formally defined in the phylogenetic system by Holtz (1994) . . . as the node within Tetanurae comprising the stem groups Coelurosauria and Carnosauria.” Holtz (1994), however, did not provide phylogenetic definitions for any of these taxa and used Carnosauria in quotes (a practice that ought to be continued). Padian and Currie (1997:39, 479) stated that Neotetanurae is a junior synonym of Avetheropoda, when clearly the former was defined prior to the latter. Holtz (2000) continued the obfuscation, saying that “indeed Sereno et al. (1997, 1998) used the same definition as above, rendering this term [Neotetanurae] a junior objective synonym of Avetheropoda.” That definition, as pointed out above, was published first by Sereno (1998) for Neotetanurae and, while it was in press, borrowed for Avetheropoda.

Paul (1988) originally erected Avetheropoda as a taxon encompassing Ornitholestes, Compsognathus, Allosauridae, and Tyrannosauridae, as well as a few poorly known abelisaurids (e.g. Indosuchus). Avetheropoda, according to Paul (1988:189) included the “direct ancestors of birds.” The characters listed in Paul’s diagnosis included the furcula and semilunate carpal, which now apply to more basal theropods than he anticipated. It is not clear how to apply the name Avetheropoda to an alternative cladogram, because Compsognathus, Coelurus and Archaeopteryx form a basal polytomy in the one phylogenetic tree (Paul 1988:fig. 10-1). Paul (2002:25) later asserted, to the contrary, that Avetheropoda had precedence over Neotetanurae. Yet his new tree (Paul 2002:fig.2.1) also shows a basal polytomy for Avetheropoda that includes “allosaurs,” Ornitholestes, and “compsognathians.”

Potential Synonomy
Avetheropoda

Active Phylogenetic Definition
Active Definition
The least inclusive clade containing Allosaurus fragilis Marsh 1877 and Carcharodontosaurus saharicus (Depéret and Savornin 1927), Sinraptor dongi Currie and Zhao 1993, Passer domesticus (Linnaeus 1758).
Shorthand
< Allosaurus fragilis and Carcharodontosaurus saharicus, Sinraptor dongi, Passer domesticus.
Definitional Author
Sereno 2005
Definition Status checked
Definition Type NODE
Node-Stem Triplet NODE
Other Triplet Taxa
Coelurosauria, Allosauroidea
Specifiers
Specifier(s) A
Allosaurus fragilis
Specifier(s) B
Carcharodontosaurus saharicus, Sinraptor dongi, Passer domesticus
Specifier(s) C
Qualifiers
+Taxon
-Taxon
Datum
Taxonomic Content
Publication Year Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
1998

Inactive Taxon Status
Rejection Criteria
Critique
 

Definitional History #1
Earliest Record
Allosaurus, Neornithes, their most recent common ancestor and all descendants.
Latest Record
Sereno 1998:64
Range (My)
Range (My)
Allosaurus, Neornithes
Range (My)

Definitional History #2
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #3
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #4
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #5
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #6
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #7
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #8
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #9
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)

Definitional History #10
Earliest Record
Latest Record
Range (My)
Range (My)
Range (My)