Timeline of ceratosaur research

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Skeletal mount of Ceratosaurus nasicornis

This timeline of ceratosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ceratosaurs, a group of relatively primitive, often horned, predatory theropod dinosaurs that became the apex predators of the southern hemisphere during the Late Cretaceous. The nature and taxonomic composition of the Ceratosauria has been controversial since the group was first distinguished in the late 19th century.[1] In 1884 Othniel Charles Marsh described the new genus and species Ceratosaurus nasicornis from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of the western United States.[2] He felt that it belonged in a new family that he called the Ceratosauridae. He created the new taxon Ceratosauria to include both the Ceratosauridae and the ostrich-like ornithomimids.[3] The idea of the Ceratosauria was soon contested, however. Later that same decade both Lydekker and Marsh's hated rival Edward Drinker Cope argued that the taxon was invalid.[3]

The idea of the Ceratosauria would regain some support more than thirty years later when Gilmore argued in its favor in 1920. Nevertheless, the validity of Ceratosauria was disputed throughout much of the 20th century by researchers like Romer, Lapparent, Lavocat, Colbert, and Charig. However in 1986, more than a century after Marsh first coined the name, Jacques Gauthier revived the idea. Three years later, Rowe published a new definition of Ceratosauria, all taxa more closely related to Ceratosaurus than to birds, based on Gauthier's use of the term. This modern use of the term was thought to include the many theropods discovered since the 1880s known as coelophysoids.[3] Ceratosaurus itself had loose joints between bones in the skull whose interpretation has been controversial. Paleontologist Robert T. Bakker has interpreted this condition as an adaptation to swallow prey larger than it would otherwise be able to fit through its jaws.[4]

Since the 1980s, major developments in ceratosaur taxonomy have centered on the discovery of the Abelisauridae, a new family of large ceratosaurs that were among the dominant predators of the southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous.[5] One of the most notable of these was Carnotaurus, an unusual horned theropod with a short face.[4] More recent noteworthy non-abelisaur ceratosaur discoveries include the protruding-toothed noasaurid Masiakasaurus knopfleri, named after the lead guitarist from Dire Straits.[6]

19th century

Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton restoration by O.C. Marsh from 1896, depicted in an erroneous upright position

1884

1888

1892

  • Cope rejected the validity of the Ceratosauria and Ceratosauridae.[3]

1896

20th century

1900s

1901

File:Genyodectes.jpg
Illustration of the type specimen of Genyodectes serus

1910s

1919

  • Othenio Abel rejected the validity of the Ceratosauria and Ceratosauridae.[3]

1920s

Skeletal restoration of known elements of Elaphrosaurs

1920

1921

1925

1930s

1931

1932

1933

1950s

1955

File:Majungasaurus.jpg
Neotype specimen of M. crenatissimus (MNHN.MAJ 1), the right dentary of a subadult individual, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris.

1956

  • Romer rejected the validity of the Ceratosauria and Ceratosauridae.[3]
  • Von Huene recognized the Ceratosauria and/or Ceratosauridae as valid.[3]

1960s

1964

  • Colbert rejected the validity of the Ceratosauria and Ceratosauridae.[3]

1966

  • Romer rejected the validity of the Ceratosauria and Ceratosauridae.[3]

1970s

1970

  • Rodney Steel rejected the validity of the Ceratosauria and Ceratosauridae.[3]

1979

File:Majungasaurus skull.jpg
The type specimen of "Majungatholus", a Majungasaurus snout bump originally mistaken for a pachycephalosaur skull dome

1980s

1980

1985

1986

  • Robert T. Bakker thought the loose joints in the skull of Ceratosaurus was an adaptation allowing it to swallow prey that would otherwise be too large.[4]
  • Ricardo Martínez and others described the new genus and species Xenotarsosaurus bonapartei.[9]
  • Gauthier "resurrected the name Ceratosauria" to apply to the sister group of the tetanuran theropods. However, while he listed the members of his Ceratosauria, he did not propose a formal phylogenetic definition.[3]

1989

  • Rowe formally defined the Ceratosauria as theropods more closely related to Ceratosaurus nasicornis than birds, based on Gauthier's 1986 usage of the term.[3]

1990s

1990

  • Rowe and Gauthier published a node-based definition of Ceratosauria.[3]

1991


1994

  • Thomas Holtz named the Coelophysoidea, then thought to be ceratosaurs. He defined them as all theropods more closely related to Coelophysis than to Ceratosaurus. Holtz defined the Neoceratosauria as all theropods closer to Ceratosaurus than to Coelophysis. He also defined the ceratosaur subclade Abelisauroidea as all theropods closer to Carnotaurus sastrei than to Ceratosaurus nasicornis.[3]

1995

1996

1998

Restoration of Majungasaurus based on the complete specimen described in 1998.
  • Coria and Leonardo Salgado described the new genus and species Ilokelesia aguagrandensis.[9]
  • Sereno redefined Ceratosauria as all neotheropods closer to Coelophysis bauri than to birds. However, this definition never received broad acceptance by the scientific community because the Rowe had already defined the group in 1989, and therefore had priority.[3] He also split the Abelisauridae into two subfamilies; the Abelisaurinae (all abelisaurids more closely related to Abelisaurus than to Carnotaurus) and Carnotaurinae (all abelisaurids more closely related to Carnotaurus than to Abelisaurus).[3]
  • Sampson and others described a more complete specimen of Majungatholus atops. They performed an X-ray CT scan of the skull of Majungatholus atopus. They found that the dome on the animal's skull formed of its frontal bone was actually hollow. This suggests that this structure was purely for display rather than used in fights between Majungatholus.[4]


21st century

2000s

Restored skull of Masiakosaurus knopfleri

2000

2001

  • Sampson, Carrano, and Forster described the new genus and species Masiakasaurus knopfleri.[9] They noted that at least six individuals were preserved together. This makes Masiakasaurus the first neoceratosaur to be preserved in association with others of its species.[10]

2002

Skeletal mount of Aucasaurus garridoi

2003

2004

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010s

2010

2012

2013

File:Arcovenator.jpg
Artistic restoration of Arcovenator

2014

2016

See also

Footnotes

  1. Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Introduction", page 47. Also cf. "Systematics and Evolution", page 64.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Table 3.1: Ceratosauria", pages 48–49.
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Systematics and Evolution", page 64.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Paleobiology", page 69.
  5. Holtz (1999); "South American Discoveries: Keys to Dinosaur Evolution", pages 48–49.
  6. Sampson (2009); For description and naming, see "Dramatis Dinosaurae", pages 36–37. For family membership, see "Drifting Continents and Globe-Trotting Dinosaurs" page 59.
  7. 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Table 3.1: Ceratosauria", page 50.
  8. Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Table 3.1: Ceratosauria", page 48.
  9. 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Table 3.1: Ceratosauria", page 49.
  10. Tykoski and Rowe (2004); "Paleobiology", page 70.
  11. Kellner and Campos (2002); "Abstract", page 163.
  12. Wilson et al. (2003); "Abstract", page 1.
  13. Calvo, Rubilar-Rogers and Moreno (2004); "Abstract", page 555.
  14. Sereno, Wilson, and Conrad (2004); "Abstract", page 1325.
  15. Malkani (2006); "Abstract", page 108.
  16. Allain et al. (2007); "Abstract", page 610.
  17. Sereno and Brusatte (2008); "Abstract", page 15.
  18. Xu et al. (2009); "Abstract", page 940.
  19. Canale et al. (2009); "Abstract", page 409.
  20. Ezcurra, Agnolin, and Novas (2010); "Abstract", page 1.
  21. Novas et al. (2010); "Abstract", page 45.
  22. Pol and Rauhut (2012); "Abstract", page 3170.
  23. Farke and Sertich (2013); "Abstract", page 1.
  24. Tortosa et al. (2013); "Abstract", page 63.
  25. Sánchez-Hernández and Benton (2014); "Abstract", page 581.
  26. Dalman (2014); "Abstract", page 181.
  27. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Canale, J.I., Scanferla, C.A., Agnolin, F., and Novas, F.E. (2008). "New carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of NW Patagonia and the evolution of abelisaurid theropods." Naturwissenschaften. doi:10.1007/s00114-008-0487-4.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Kellner, A.W.A. and D.A. Campos. 2002. On a theropod dinosaur (Abelisauria) from the continental Cretaceous of Brazil. Arquivos do Museu Nacional Rio de Janeiro 60 (3): pp. 163–170.
  • Malkani, 2006a. Biodiversity of saurischian dinosaurs from the Latest Cretaceous park of Pakistan. Journal of Applied and Emerging Sciences. 1(3), 108–140.
  • Novas, Fernando E., Chatterjee, Sankar, Rudra, Dhiraj K., Datta, P.M. (2010). "Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis, n. gen. n. sp., A New Abelisaurid Theropod from the Late Cretaceous of India" in: Saswati Bandyopadhyay (ed.): New Aspects of Mesozoic Biodiversity. Springer Berlin / Heidelberg. pp. 45–62. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-10311-7. ISBN 978-3-642-10310-0.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Sereno, P.C., J.A. Wilson, and J.L. Conrad. 2004. New dinosaurs link southern landmasses in the Mid-Cretaceous. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (Series B) published online: pages 1–6.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Tykoski, R.S. & Rowe, T. (2004). "Ceratosauria". In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., & Osmolska, H. (Eds.) The Dinosauria (2nd edition). Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 47–70 ISBN 0-520-24209-2
  • Wilson, J.A., Sereno, P.C., Srivastava, S., Bhatt, D.K., Khosla, A. and Sahni, A. (2003). "A new abelisaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of India." (PDF) Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology [University of Michigan], 31(1): 1–42.
  • Xu, X., Clark, J.M., Mo, J., Choiniere, J., Forster, C.A., Erickson, G.M., Hone, D.W.E., Sullivan, C., Eberth, D.A., Nesbitt, S., Zhao, Q., Hernandez, R., Jia, C.-K., Han, F.-L., and Guo, Y. (2009). "A Jurassic ceratosaur from China helps clarify avian digital homologies." Nature, 459(18): 940–944. doi:10.1038/nature08124

External links

  • Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons