Ceratosauria

Ceratosaurs Temporal range: Jurassic-Cretaceous
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Infraorder:	Ceratosauria Marsh, 1884
Families
Elaphrosauridae Ceratosauridae Noasauridae Abelisauridae

An old reconstruction of Ceratosaurus as an erect biped.

Ceratosaurs are a group of theropod dinosaurs defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestry with Ceratosaurus than with birds. There is presently no universally agreed upon listing of species or diagnostic characters of Ceratosauria. According to one theory, Ceratosauria includes the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous theropods Ceratosaurus, Elaphrosaurus, and Abelisaurus, found primarily (though not exclusively) in the southern hemisphere. The competing view is that Ceratosauria includes the above dinosaurs plus the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Coelophysoidea (Coelophysis, Dilophosaurus), implying a much earlier divergence of ceratosaurs from the theropod lineage including birds.

Classification

• Suborder Theropoda
  • INFRAORDER CERATOSAURIA
    • ?Superfamily Coelophysoidea
    • ?Lukousaurus
    • Elaphrosaurus
    • Chuandongocoelurus
    • Neoceratosauria
      • Family Ceratosauridae
        • Genyodectes
        • Ceratosaurus
      • Superfamily Abelisauroidea
        • Spinostropheus
        • Abelisauria
          • Family Noasauridae
          • Family Abelisauridae

External links

• " Ceratosauria ". DinoData.