Afrovenator abakensis

[pharrinj@PLU.edu]

   Just a few thoughts.  I just ran across Paul Sereno's preliminary 
description of _Afrovenator_ in _Science_, and I noticed that he 
classified it as close to _Torvosaurus_ and _Eustreptospondylus_.  The 
ilium and pubis (broad proximally but quite narrow distally, with a small 
expansion at the tip) are indeed rather similar to G.S. Paul's 
restoration of _Eustreptospondylus oxoniensis_ in _Predatory Dinosaurs of 
the world_, and I am classifying them together in the 
Eustreptospondylidae in my new dinosaur classification (as if anyone out 
there cared).  _Valdoraptor oweni_, from the Early Cretaceous of the Isle 
of Wight, also resembles the metatarsus of _Eustreptospondylus_, so 
perhaps it belongs with that genus and with _Afrovenator_.  Sereno 
implies in the 1994 article that _Eustreptospondylus_ possesses the 
hypershortened forearm and sickle-shaped thumb claw characteristic of 
torvosaurids.  Is this correct?  Is there even enough known of 
_Eustrepto_'s manus to tell?
   _Dryptosaurus aquilunguis_ does have the large thumb ungual, and the 
referred metatarsal and humerus look much like a megalosaur's, so it might 
be a torvosaurid, despite its appearance in the latest Cretaceous.
   I noticed that tetanurans (from torvosaurs on up) tend to have 
opisthocoelous cervical vertebrae.  Can anyone corroborate this?  The 
only exceptions I've found are _Gasosaurus_ and _Kaijiangosaurus_.  The 
rest of the bones look tetanuran, but they have platycoelous cervicals.  
Perhaps they are more primitive than the rest?  Are there any cervicals 
referred to _Megalosaurus_?

   In general, I agree with Sereno's assessment.  Apart from _Gasosaurus_ 
and _Kaijiangosaurus_ (which might just pertain to the same species), 
tetanurans appear to fall into three groups:

Tetanurae
   _Gasosaurus_/_Kaijiangosaurus_
   Torvosauria
      Eustreptospondylidae
      Torvosauridae
      ?Spinosauridae (?incl. _Baryonyx_)
   Allosauria
      Sinraptoridae
         Piatnitzkysaurinae (_Piatnitzkysaurus_, _Iliosuchus_, 
                             _Stokesosaurus_)
         Sinraptorinae
         Monolophosaurinae (_Monolophosaurus_, _Cryolophosaurus_)
      Allosauridae
      Carcharodontosauridae
   Coelurosauria

   BTW, what is the current consensus (ha, ha) on 
_Chilantaisaurus_--torvosaur or allosaur?  Does _C. maortuensis_ belong 
to this genus?

   I'm also not quite sure where _Megalosaurus_, _Magnosaurus_, and 
_Kelmayisaurus_ might belong.

I look forward to comments from whoever reads this.

     Nick Pharris
     Pacific Lutheran University