Megalosauroidea

Megalosauroidea is a group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. They lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period. Members of the group include Spinosaurus, Megalosaurus, and Torvosaurus.

Megalosauroids
Temporal range: Middle JurassicLate Cretaceous, Possible Late Maastrichtian record
Torvosaurus Museum of Ancient Life 2.jpg
Torvosaurus skeletal mount, Museum of Ancient Life
Spinosaurus swimming.jpg
Spinosaurus skeletal mount, National Geographic Museum
Scientific classification e
Unrecognized taxon (fix): Megalosauroidea
Type species
Megalosaurus bucklandii
Mantell, 1827
Subgroups
Synonyms
  • Spinosauroidea Stromer, 1915
  • Torvosauroidea Nopcsa, 1915
  • Spinosauria Olshevsky, 1991

Classification

The definition of the clade Megalosauroidea includes Megalosaurus bucklandii and all taxa that share a more recent common ancestor with it than they do with Allosaurus fragilis or the House Sparrow.[1]

Below is a cladogram showing the relationships between different members of Megalosauroidea. It is based on a study by Carrano, Benson & Sampson (2012).[2]

Tetanurae

Cryolophosaurus  



"Dilophosaurus" sinensis  




Chuandongocoelurus



Monolophosaurus  


Orionides
Avetheropoda

Allosauroidea  


Coelurosauria

Lourinhanosaurus



Other coelurosaurians  




Megalosauroidea
Piatnitzkysauridae

Marshosaurus




Condorraptor



Piatnitzkysaurus




Megalosauria

Streptospondylus


Spinosauridae


Baryonyx



Suchomimus  





Angaturama



Irritator  



Spinosaurus  




Megalosauridae
Eustreptospondylinae

Eustreptospondylus




Megalosaurinae

Duriavenator




Megalosaurus



Torvosaurus  




Afrovenatorinae

Afrovenator  




Dubreuillosaurus



Magnosaurus





Leshansaurus



Piveteausaurus












Megalosauroidea Media

References

  1. Benson, R.B.J. (2010). "A description of Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Bathonian of the UK and the relationships of Middle Jurassic theropods". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 158 (4): 882–935. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00569.x. S2CID 84266680.
  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. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927. S2CID 85354215.