Ceratosauria

Ceratosaurs are members of the clade Ceratosauria, a group of dinosaurs defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestor with Ceratosaurus than with birds. The oldest known ceratosaur, Saltriovenator, dates to the earliest part of the Jurassic, around 199 million years ago. Ceratosauria includes three major clades: Ceratosauridae, Noasauridae, and Abelisauridae, found primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. Originally, Ceratosauria included the above dinosaurs plus the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic Coelophysoidea and Dilophosauridae, implying a much earlier divergence of ceratosaurs from other theropods. However, most recent studies have shown that coelophysoids and dilophosaurids do not form a natural group with other ceratosaurs, and are excluded from this group.

Ceratosauria

Ryan Somma User:Aktron User:Skye McDavid User:Packa User:Jens Lallensack User:Alexpritchardartist · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
ceratosaurPBDB
Sits inside
AverostraPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Theropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 155 million years on record.

The record covers at least 227.3 Mya to 72.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 66 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 391 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 4 of 391 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 3 of 391 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 10 of 391 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 59 of 391 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 40 of 391 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 275 of 391 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 0 of 391 occurrences240–234 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences234–229 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences229–223 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences223–217 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences217–211 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences211–205 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences205–199 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences199–193 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences193–187 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences187–181 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences181–175 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences175–169 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences169–163 Mya — about 9 occurrences163–157 Mya — about 3 occurrences157–152 Mya — about 16 occurrences152–146 Mya — about 32 occurrences146–140 Mya — about 8 occurrences140–134 Mya — about 3 occurrences134–128 Mya — about 2 occurrences128–122 Mya — about 2 occurrences122–116 Mya — about 6 occurrences116–110 Mya — about 8 occurrences110–104 Mya — about 15 occurrences104–98 Mya — about 15 occurrences98–92 Mya — about 25 occurrences92–86 Mya — about 11 occurrences86–80 Mya — about 33 occurrences80–74 Mya — about 32 occurrences74–69 Mya — about 102 occurrences69–63 Mya — about 61 occurrences227.3 Mya72.2 Mya240 Mya63 Mya

391 occurrences of Ceratosauria on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group, and the chart stops with its fossils rather than at the present. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

391 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

101 formations

Maevarano — 15.91°S, 46.58°EMaevarano — 15.93°S, 46.52°EMaevarano — 16.12°S, 45.74°ELameta — 23.17°N, 79.97°ELameta — 23.06°N, 73.34°ELameta — 20.35°N, 79.05°EMorrison — 38.54°N, 105.22°WMorrison — 39.24°N, 109.00°WMorrison — 38.58°N, 108.40°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 36.90°N, 102.83°WMorrison — 41.97°N, 106.29°WMorrison — 40.44°N, 109.30°WMorrison — 44.09°N, 106.78°WMorrison — 38.86°N, 110.90°WMorrison — 44.05°N, 107.46°WMorrison — 38.45°N, 107.40°WMorrison — 39.32°N, 110.69°WMorrison — 41.88°N, 106.11°WMorrison — 39.15°N, 108.77°WMorrison — 44.46°N, 104.73°WMorrison — 39.01°N, 111.02°WMorrison — 41.91°N, 105.97°WMorrison — 36.93°N, 102.97°WAdamantina — 21.59°S, 51.19°WAdamantina — 19.46°S, 49.25°WAdamantina — 21.94°S, 51.37°WAdamantina — 19.44°S, 49.24°WAdamantina — 21.33°S, 48.58°WAdamantina — 19.46°S, 50.11°WAdamantina — 19.03°S, 49.48°WAdamantina — 21.09°S, 49.24°WAdamantina — 19.44°S, 49.26°WAdamantina — 22.02°S, 51.56°WTendaguru — 9.70°S, 39.24°ETendaguru — 9.84°S, 39.39°ETendaguru — 10.11°S, 39.22°EBajo de la Carpa — 38.94°S, 68.06°WBajo de la Carpa — 37.59°S, 69.32°WBajo de la Carpa — 39.12°S, 67.63°WBajo de la Carpa — 39.63°S, 68.35°WMarília — 21.29°S, 48.52°WMarília — 15.46°S, 55.75°WMarília — 15.89°S, 53.18°WMarília — 18.36°S, 50.49°WVitakri — 29.68°N, 69.37°EVitakri — 27.76°N, 67.17°EHuincul — 39.20°S, 69.15°WHuincul — 39.25°S, 68.80°WHuincul — 39.52°S, 69.25°WHuincul — 39.40°S, 68.62°WSerra da Galga — 19.72°S, 47.75°WSerra da Galga — 19.72°S, 47.74°WSerra da Galga — 19.60°S, 47.62°WSerra da Galga — 19.59°S, 48.03°WIsalo IIIb — 16.43°S, 47.15°EIsalo IIIb — 16.48°S, 47.40°EIsalo IIIb — 16.48°S, 47.12°EIsalo IIIb — 15.55°S, 47.67°EIsalo IIIb — 16.48°S, 47.17°EPresidente Prudente — 21.94°S, 51.37°WPresidente Prudente — 21.79°S, 50.86°WPresidente Prudente — 22.22°S, 51.43°WAllen — 39.43°S, 67.29°WAllen — 38.76°S, 67.98°WAllen — 39.13°S, 67.67°WAllen — 39.51°S, 67.39°WAllen — 40.06°S, 66.80°WAnacleto — 37.88°S, 68.52°WAnacleto — 38.84°S, 68.84°WAnacleto — 39.10°S, 67.55°WAnacleto — 37.13°S, 69.33°WAnacleto — 39.38°S, 67.69°WBajo Barreal — 45.32°S, 69.62°WBajo Barreal — 47.16°S, 69.75°WBajo Barreal — 44.91°S, 69.38°WPortezuelo — 38.90°S, 69.55°WPortezuelo — 38.45°S, 68.72°WPortezuelo — 38.88°S, 69.48°WLa Colonia — 43.00°S, 67.55°WLa Colonia — 42.95°S, 67.55°WCerro Lisandro — 39.07°S, 69.15°WCerro Lisandro — 39.30°S, 68.46°WLourinhã — 39.11°N, 9.21°WLourinhã — 39.23°N, 9.32°WBaharîje — 28.43°N, 28.91°EBaharîje — 28.43°N, 28.96°ECouche III — 32.87°N, 6.57°WCouche III — 32.83°N, 6.23°WCouche III — 32.67°N, 6.67°WTacuarembó — 31.87°S, 55.90°WTacuarembó — 31.70°S, 55.96°WVitoria — 42.66°N, 2.63°WCandeleros — 39.40°S, 69.20°WCandeleros — 38.35°S, 69.15°WCandeleros — 39.34°S, 68.94°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ceratosauria has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 77 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 24 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ceratosauria and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Ceratosauria and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

898 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 292 sites for Ceratosauria, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

225 references

Each of the 391 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 213 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Ceratosauria

Credit
Ryan Somma User:Aktron User:Skye McDavid User:Packa User:Jens Lallensack User:Alexpritchardartist
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Ceratosauria indet. · mef:pv:6775

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAverostra through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Marsh 1884)