RE: Gaia theropod follow-up: a "new" phylogeny

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> So if I read it right you see a Neovenator+carcharodontosaurine
> clade as was
> speculated some time ago on the list.
> Doe this stay in you more recent
> analysis.

No, actually I find _Neo._ closer to _Allosaurus_ than to the
carcharodontosaurines.

> Are the characters suggested by I think Currie as link
> carcharodontosaurs with Sinraptorids and the former with
> abelisaurs merely
> convergent or they were simply coded differently by you?

Would have to go back and check and see what they are.  Some, I imagine, may
be allosauroid syanpomorphies lost/transformed in the _Allo._+_Neo._ clade.

> Further this tree seems to show no Afroventor+Spinosaurid grouping
> ; how did that come about?

Well, in part because I disagree with some of the coding of the characters
suggested in support of this clade; however, another aspect is that
inclusion of additional characters support (weakly, I might add!) position
of _Afro._ and company closer to avetheropods than to Spinosaurids.

> Finally the primitive coelurosaurs seem to be quite big in size
> suggesting
> at least two indepdent size expnasions in coelurosuars. Does this
> mean they
> were radiating into niches cleared of the alloasuroids?

Well, this *could* be the case in _Dryptosaurus_.  However, as
_Deltadromeus_ co-occurs with some GIANT allosauroids (namely
_Carcharodontosaurus_) this is not the case there.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
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