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Clade
Subclade

Taxon
Taxon
Carnosauria
Nominal Author
Huene 1920
2nd Nominal Author
Taxon Status INACTIVE
Comments
Potential Synonomy
Allosauroidea

Active Phylogenetic Definition
Active Definition
Shorthand
Definitional Author
Definition Status Unknown
Definition Type Unknown
Node-Stem Triplet Unknown
Other Triplet Taxa
Specifiers
Specifier(s) A
Specifier(s) B
Specifier(s) C
Qualifiers
+Taxon
-Taxon
Datum
Taxonomic Content
Publication Year Unknown
Unknown
Unknown

Inactive Taxon Status
Rejection Criteria historically polyphyletic
Critique

This taxon was originally named by Huene (1920) to refer to a clade of large-bodied theropods. Over time this taxon became a paraphyletic “wastebasket” that included an assemblage of phylogenetically disparate large-bodied theropods, including Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Carnotaurus, and spinosauroids.

Holtz and Padian (1995:35A) coined a stem-based definition for Carnosauria in an abstract similar to one used later by Padian et al. (1999). Sereno (1997, 1998) used a simialar stem-based definition for Allosauroidea. Sereno and others have rejected the use of Carnosauria, given its history as a repository for disparate large-bodied theropods in traditional classifications. Initially, Gauthier (1986:9) tried to resuscitate Carnosauria as a clade, but he did not provide a phylogenetic definition and listed large-bodied taxa that now are recognized as a disparate assemblage (including abelisaurids, allosaurids, and tyrannosaurids).

Initially Holtz (1994) chose not employ Carnosauria, arguing that it was a historically polyphyletic taxon. Later, in an abstract, Holtz and Padian (1995) revived use of Carrnosauria as a stem-based taxon. In subsequent years, they and co-authors have provided variants of that definition (Padian et al. 1999), arguing that Gauthier’s (1986) use of the taxon has priority.

However, as mentioned above, Gauthier (1986) did not provide a definition for Carnosauria, and the taxa he included are now recognized as a disparate assemblage (including abelisaurids, allosauroids, and tyrannosaurids). As a result, the clade that they now want to recognise as Carnosauria has taxonomic content that differes very little from their use of Allosauroidea or Allosauridae. This is a poor match to the historical use of Carnosauria. And this is a very different history than that for Coleurosauria, which, by contrast, (1) was defined by Gauthier (1986), (2) was used in subsequent cladistic analyses by several authors, and (3) still includes most of the genera historically associated with the taxon.

 

Definitional History #1
Earliest Record
Tetanurans closer to Allosaurus than to birds.
Latest Record
Holtz and Padian 1995:35A
Range (My)
Range (My)
Allosaurus, birds
Range (My)

Definitional History #2
Earliest Record
All Tetanurae closer to Allosaurus than to birds.
Latest Record
Padian and Hutchinson 1997:6
Range (My)
Range (My)
Allosaurus, birds
Range (My)

Definitional History #3
Earliest Record
Allosaurus and all Avetheropoda closer to Allosaurus than to birds.
Latest Record
Hutchinson and Padian 1997:95
Range (My)
Range (My)
Allosaurus, birds
Range (My)

Definitional History #4
Earliest Record
All avetheropods closer to Allosaurus than to Neornithes.
Latest Record
Padian et al. 1999:72
Range (My)
Range (My)
Allosaurus, Neornithes
Range (My)

Definitional History #5
Earliest Record
Allosaurus fragilis and other taxa sharing a more recent common ancestor with it than with birds.
Latest Record
Holtz et al. 2004:100
Range (My)
Range (My)
Allosaurus fragilis, birds
Range (My)

Definitional History #6
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Latest Record
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Definitional History #7
Earliest Record
Latest Record
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Definitional History #8
Earliest Record
Latest Record
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Definitional History #9
Earliest Record
Latest Record
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Definitional History #10
Earliest Record
Latest Record
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