Open Paleo

Allosauria

Paul, 1988

Its genera lived 154.8–89.8 million years ago Late Jurassic–Late Cretaceous

Allosauria is a clade of allosauroid theropods comprising Allosauridae and Carcharodontosauria, recovered as the sister group of the metriacanthosaurids within Allosauroidea. The group unites the well-known Late Jurassic Allosaurus with the giant carcharodontosaurians that were among the largest terrestrial predators of the Cretaceous.

Diagnosis

  1. Maxilla with a prominent horizontal ridge (lingual bar) between the palatal process and the antorbital fenestra
  2. Paradental plates of the dentary fused into a continuous medial lamina, with the tooth replacement groove absent
  3. Retroarticular process wider mediolaterally than the posterior width of the dentary
  4. Pneumatic pleurocoelous fossae on the sacral vertebral centra
  5. Iliac pubic peduncle elongate, more than twice as long as wide
  6. Ischial symphysis expanded into an apron

Clades within Allosauria

References

  1. Paul, G. S. (1988). Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. Simon & Schuster, New York 1-464. paul1988a
  2. Carrano, M. T.; Benson, R. B. J.; Sampson, S. D. (2012). The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2): 211-300. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927 carrano2012a