Re: Re: Quo vadis, T. rex? (my last!)

[Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)]

>I just told everyone that _Spinosaurus_, _Baryonyx_, and _Carnotaurus_
>are abelisaurid ceratosaurs.  ARGHH!  Well, I had to tell them SOMETHING!
>
Well, Carnotaurus is a good abelisaurid.

>Distillation of the comments I received, plus additional discussion I've
>seen here, suggests I should go with this scheme for coelurosaurs (yes, I 
>know it's oversimplified, and not exactly avant-garde):
>
>     Micro-order Coelurosauria
>             Family Compsognathidae
>         Superfamily Maniraptora
>             Family Ornitholestidae
>             Family Dromaeosauridae   
>             Family Oviraptoridae
>         Superfamily Arctometatarsalia
>             Family Avimimidae
>             Family Tyrannosauridae
>             Family Troodontidae
>             Family Ornithomimidae
>
Looks good to me, except that superfamilies should be named from type families
with an "-oidea" ending.

>As it stands, this scheme cleverly avoids the issue of whether 
>arctometatarsalians are derived maniraptors.  And no way am I going to 
>mix birds with this (anybody can see that these are dinosaurs, not 
>birds!).  The more uncertainty there is, the better Linnaeus looks.

Now THAT would make a good bumper sticker! :-)

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Vertebrate Paleontologist
Dept. of Geology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD  20742
Email:Thomas_R_HOLTZ@umail.umd.edu (th81)
Fax: 301-314-9661
Phone:301-405-4084