Open Paleo

Proceratosauridae

Rauhut et al., 2010 Type genus Proceratosaurus

Its genera lived 168.2–113.2 million years ago Middle Jurassic–Early Cretaceous

Proceratosauridae is a family of tyrannosauroid theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous, representing some of the earliest and most basal members of the tyrannosaur lineage. It is defined as all theropods more closely related to Proceratosaurus than to Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Compsognathus, Coelurus, Ornithomimus, or Deinonychus (Rauhut, Milner and Moore-Fay, 2010). Unlike the giant, short-armed tyrannosaurids that came later, proceratosaurids were generally small and retained fairly long, three-fingered arms capable of grasping prey, though Sinotyrannus, a member in the analysis of Loewen and colleagues (2013), grew much larger. The group is distinguished above all by an elaborate midline crest along the nasals and by greatly elongated external nares. Its members include Proceratosaurus, Guanlong and Kileskus (Averianov and colleagues, 2010), with Sinotyrannus, Stokesosaurus and Juratyrant added by Loewen and colleagues (2013); the analysis that coined the name recovered Proceratosaurus and Guanlong as its members (Rauhut, Milner and Moore-Fay, 2010).

Diagnosis

  1. Strongly enlarged external nares
  2. Slight anterior offset of the maxillary ascending ramus from the anterior margin of the maxillary body
  3. Midline cranial crest or horn on the nasals

Genera placed directly in Proceratosauridae

  • Guanlong Xu et al., 2006 Callovian–Oxfordian (165.3–154.8 Ma)China
  • Kileskus Averianov et al., 2010 Bathonian (168.2–165.3 Ma)Russia
  • Proceratosaurus Huene, 1926 Bathonian (168.2–165.3 Ma)United Kingdom
  • Sinotyrannus Ji et al., 2009 Aptian (121.4–113.2 Ma)Chinaunder dispute
  • Yutyrannus Xu et al., 2012 Barremian (125.8–121.4 Ma)China

References

  1. Averianov, A. O.; Krasnolutskii, S. A.; Ivantsov, S. V. (2010). A new basal coelurosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Siberia. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 314(1): 42-57. Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. doi:10.31610/trudyzin/2010.314.1.42

    Described Kileskus and diagnosed Proceratosauridae, arguing the name was a nomen nudum as published by Rauhut and colleagues (2010).

    averianov2010a
  2. Rauhut, O. W. M.; Milner, A. C.; Moore-Fay, S. (2010). Cranial osteology and phylogenetic position of the theropod dinosaur Proceratosaurus bradleyi (Woodward, 1910) from the Middle Jurassic of England. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158(1): 155-195. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00591.x

    Coined Proceratosauridae with a phylogenetic definition, having listed the characters uniting Proceratosaurus with Guanlong.

    rauhut2010a
  3. Loewen, M. A.; Irmis, R. B.; Sertich, J. J. W.; Currie, P. J.; Sampson, S. D. (2013). Tyrant Dinosaur Evolution Tracks the Rise and Fall of Late Cretaceous Oceans. PLoS ONE 8(11): e79420. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079420

    Recovered Proceratosauridae as two subclades, one of Stokesosaurus, Juratyrant and Sinotyrannus and one of Proceratosaurus, Kileskus and Guanlong.

    loewen2013a