Re: Allosauroid _Abelisaurus_???

["T. Mike Keesey" <tmk@dinosauricon.com>]

On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, T. Mike Keesey wrote:

> Wow! From the abstract:
> "_Abelisaurus_ shares apomorphic characters with Carnotaurinae, but many
> of these characters are also found in the carcharodontosaurid allosauroid
> _Giganotosaurus_. As it is known only from cranial material lacking
> carnotaurine synapomorphies, _Abelisaurus _may represent a late-surviving
> carcharodontosaurid derivative."
>
> I can't read the paper, but it looks like they are suggesting that
> _Abelisaurus_ is not a ceratosaur at all, but a carcharodontosaurine!
> (Or carcharodontosaurid, depending on your taxonomic preference.) This
> would have some pretty profound implications for ceratosaurian taxonomy.
> (Like the abandonment of _Abelisauria_ and _Abelisauroidea_ -- what would
> we even call these critters? And how many abelisaurs would _Abelisaurus_
> "take with it" into _Carcharodontosaurinae/idae_?)

Oh, wait -- they seem to be saying all abelisaurids, including
carnotaurines, are allosauroids. Where would this leave noasaurids,
_Elaphrosaurus_, etc.?

Weird.

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