Carnosauria
Extinct carnivorous theropod dinosaurs from the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Carnosauria is an extinct group of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Historically considered largely synonymous with Allosauroidea, some recent studies have revived Carnosauria as a clade including both Allosauroidea and Megalosauroidea, encompassing the majority of non-coelurosaurian members of theropod clade Tetanurae. Other researchers have found Allosauroidea and Megalosauroidea to be unrelated groups, and the composition of Carnosauria remains controversial.
- born
- Middle Jurassic, around 174 million years ago
- died
- Late Cretaceous, Turonian epoch, around 90 million years ago
- field
- Paleontology
- known_for
- Large carnivorous theropods with distinctive skull and limb features
Lore & Background
Carnosauria has traditionally been used as a dumping ground for all large theropods, even including non-dinosaurs such as the rauisuchian Teratosaurus. However, analyses in the 1980s and 1990s revealed that other than size, the group shared very few characteristics, making it polyphyletic. Most former carnosaurs were reclassified as more primitive theropods or placed in Coelurosauria. Modern cladistic analysis defines Carnosauria as those tetanurans sharing a more recent common ancestor with Allosaurus than with modern birds.
Reader's Guide
Carnosauria's significance lies in its role as a major group of large predatory dinosaurs during the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Distinctive characteristics include large eye sockets, a long narrow skull, and modifications of the legs and pelvis such as the femur being longer than the tibia. The group includes well-known genera like Allosaurus and Giganotosaurus, with the largest reaching up to 10 meters in length. Carnosaurs maintained a similar center of mass across all sizes and possessed a caudofemoralis longus muscle for tail flexion. Their serrated teeth and narrow skulls allowed efficient slicing of flesh. The last definitive carnosaur family, Carcharodontosauridae, became extinct around 90 million years ago, though some later theropod remains once suggested to be carcharodontosaurids were reinterpreted as other groups. The classification of Carnosauria remains controversial, with some studies including Megalosauroidea and others finding them unrelated. The clade Neovenatoridae has been proposed as a group of carcharodontosaurian carnosaurs, but its composition and affinities are debated.
Did You Know?
- Carnosauria first appeared in the Middle Jurassic around 174 million years ago.
- The last definitive carnosaur family, Carcharodontosauridae, became extinct in the Turonian epoch around 90 million years ago.
- Distinctive features include a triangular-shaped pubic boot and the femur being longer than the tibia.
- Allosaurus and Concavenator preserve skin impressions showing small scales and scutate scales.
More in Extinct Archosaurs 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record