Metriacanthosauridae

Metriacanthosaurids
Temporal range: Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, 174–125 Ma Possible Albian record
Sinraptor dongi, Royal Tyrrell Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: †Carnosauria
Superfamily: †Allosauroidea
Family: †Metriacanthosauridae
Paul, 1988
Type species
†Metriacanthosaurus parkeri
Huene, 1923
Subgroups
Synonyms
  • Sinraptoridae Currie & Zhao, 1993

Metriacanthosauridae (Greek for "moderately-spined lizards") is an extinct family of allosauroid theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous.[3] The family is split into two subgroups: Metriacanthosaurinae, which includes dinosaurs closely related to Metriacanthosaurus, and another group composed of the close relatives of Yangchuanosaurus. Metriacanthosaurids are considered carnosaurs, belonging to the Allosauroidea superfamily. The group includes species of large range in body size. Of their physical traits, most notable are their neural spines.[4] The records of the group are mostly confined to Asia, though Metriacanthosaurus is known from Europe. Metriacanthosauridae is used as a senior synonym of Sinraptoridae.

  1. ^ Rauhut, O. W.; Pol, D. (2019). "Probable basal allosauroid from the early Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of Argentina highlights phylogenetic uncertainty in tetanuran theropod dinosaurs". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 18826. Bibcode:2019NatSR...918826R. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-53672-7. PMC 6906444. PMID 31827108.
  2. ^ Cau, A. (2024). "A Unified Framework for Predatory Dinosaur Macroevolution". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 63 (1). doi:10.4435/BSPI.2024.08. Supplementary Material
  3. ^ 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. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927. S2CID 85354215.
  4. ^ Bailey, Jack Bowman. "Neural Spine Elongation in Dinosaurs: Sailbacks or Buffalo-Backs?" Journal of Paleontology, vol. 71, no. 06, 1997, pp. 1124–1146., doi:10.1017/s0022336000036076.