Modern dinosaur classifications (was RE: )

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

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of Tobi Hautekiet
>
> okay, thanks everybody, so know i know that the spinosaur 
> family is not a part of the carnosaur clade(if i got this 
> wrong tell me)...
> 
> But i'm in a muddel with my groups, i got this book that says this: 
> saurischians:carnosaurs,ornithmimids,dromeosaurs,coelurosaurs,
> sauropods/ornithischians:armored
> dinosaurs,stegosaurs,boneheaded dinosaurs,horned dinosaurs, 
> duckbilled dinosaurs,iguanodons
> 
> i know wat theropods are but i gor no clew were they are in 
> this thing, i'm sorry to keep bothering you all like this, 
> the second i got this straight i'l stop anoying you all.
> 
> I would just like something that can show me the most modern 
> version of this all

Well, scientists always have some disagreement over the evidence concerning
the interrelationships between the different groups, and thus slight
differences over the details of the classification.

If you want to see the scheme I use for my students this semester (which
will change again next year with new information!), you can start at:
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/G104/lectures/104dinorise.html
And work your way over the next several websites from that.

But in short version, the major groups of dinosaurs are, in outline form:
Dinosauria - dinosaurs
        Saurischia - "lizard hipped" dinosaurs
                Eoraptor, Herrerasauria - primitive early saurischians
(thought by some to be primitive theropods)
                Sauropodomorpha - long-necked plant eaters
                        Various primitive bipedal or facultatively bipedal
forms, collective called "prosauropods"
                        Sauropoda - large, quadrupedal long-necked plant
eaters
                                Various primitive sauropod groups
                                Diplodocoidea - whip-tailed long-necked
plant eaters
                                Macronaria - big-nosed long-necked plant
eaters, including Brachiosauridae and Titanosauria
                Theropoda - carnivorous dinosaurs
                        Coelophysoidea - slender primitive theropods
                        Ceratosauria - short-armed theropods, inlcuding
Ceratosaurus, Noasauridae, and the stump-armed Abelisauridae
                        Tetanurae - stiffened-tailed theropods
                                Spinosauoridea - Spinosauridae and their
more primitive kin
                                Carnosauria - Allosaurus and its closest
relatives
                                Coelurosauria - Agile larger-brained
slender-handed theropods, with simple protofeathers
                                        Compsognathidae - Small primitive
coelurosaurs
                                        Tyrannosauroidea - Larger primitive
coelurosaurs with powerful bites, including the tremendously large
two-fingered Tyrannosauridae
                                        Ornithomimosauria - Ostrich
dinosaurs
                                        Maniraptora - Advanced coelurosaurs
with specialized arms and feathers
                                                Oviraptorosauria -
Boxy-skulled omnivores
                                                Therizinosauria -
Large-clawed, long-necked omnivores
                                                Deinonychosauria -
"Raptors", including Dromaeosauridae & Troodontidae
                                                Avialae - "Birds" in the
broad sense, including modern birds

        Ornithischia - "bird-hipped" dinosaurs
                Pisanosaurus, Eocursor, Lesothosaurus - primitive early
ornithischians
                Heterodontosauridae - primitive ornithischians with a
powerful bite
                Thyreophora - armored dinosuars, inlcuding Ankylosauria and
Stegosauria
                Ornithopoda - beaked dinosaurs
                        Various primitive ornithopod groups, once called
"hypsilophodonts"
                        Iguanodontia - larger advanced ornithopods
                                Various primitive iguanodontian groups
                                Hadrosauridae - duckbilled dinosaurs
                Marginocephalia - ridge-headed dinosaurs
                        Pachycephalosauria - domeheaded dinosaurs
                        Ceratopsia - parrot, frilled, and horned dinosaurs,
including the Ceratopsidae (true horned dinosaurs)

Hope this helps,

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Earth, Life & Time Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite/
Fax: 301-405-0796

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA