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Herrerasauridae

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Herrerasauridae is a family of carnivorous dinosaurs, possibly basal to either theropods or even all of saurischians, or even their own branching from Dracohors, separate from Dinosauria altogether. They are among the oldest known dinosaurs, first appearing in the fossil record around 233.23 million years ago (the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic),[2] before becoming extinct by the end of the Carnian stage. Herrerasaurids were relatively small-sized dinosaurs, normally no more than 4 metres (13 ft) long,[3][4] although the holotype specimen of "Frenguellisaurus ischigualastensis" (nowadays considered a synonym of Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis) is thought to have reached around 6 meters (20 ft) long. The best known representatives of this group are from South America (Brazil, Argentina), where they were first discovered in the 1930s in relation to Staurikosaurus and 1960s in relation to Herrerasaurus. A nearly complete skeleton of Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis was discovered in the Ischigualasto Formation in San Juan, Argentina, in 1988. Less complete possible herrerasaurids have been found in North America and Africa, and they may have inhabited other continents as well.

Herrerasaurids
Temporal range: Late Triassic (Carnian), 233.23–228.91 Ma
↓
 Possible Late Norian records if Chindesaurus and Caseosaurus are part of the family.
Herrerasaurus schigualastensis
Skeleton of Herrerasaurus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Herrerasauria
Family: †Herrerasauridae
Benedetto, 1973
Genera[1]
Synonyms
  • Staurikosauridae Galton, 1977
  • Herrerasauria? Galton, 1985
  • Herreravia Paul, 1988

Herrerasaurid anatomy is unusual and specialized, and they are not considered to be ancestral to any later dinosaur group. They only superficially resemble theropods and often present a mixture of very primitive and derived traits. The acetabulum is only partly open, and there are only two sacral vertebrae, the lowest number among dinosaurs. The pubic bone has a derived structure, being rotated somewhat posteriorly and folded to create a superficially tetanuran-like terminal expansion, especially prominent in H. ischigulastensis. The hand is primitive in having five metacarpals and the third finger longer than the second, but resembles those of theropods in having only three long fingers, with curved claws. Herrerasaurids also have a hinged mandible, which is also found in theropods.

Classification

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Reconstruction of Staurikosaurus

It is not clear where herrerasaurids lie on the early dinosaur evolutionary tree. They are possibly basal theropods or basal saurischians.[5] Early researchers even proposed that they represented an early lineage of sauropodomorphs. Some analyses, such as Nesbitt et al. 2009, have found Herrerasaurus and its relatives in Herrerasauridae to be very basal theropods,[6] while others (such as Ezcurra 2010) have found them to be basal to the clade Eusaurischia, that is, closer to the base of the saurischian tree than either theropods or sauropodomorphs, but not true members of either.[7] The situation is further complicated by uncertainties in correlating the ages of late Triassic beds bearing land animals.[3]

Other proposed members of the clade have included Sanjuansaurus[8] from the Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina, Staurikosaurus and Gnathovorax from the Santa Maria Formation of southern Brazil,[9] Chindesaurus from the Petrified Forest (Chinle Formation) of Arizona,[10] and possibly Caseosaurus from the Dockum Formation of Texas,[11][12] although the relationships of the North American animals are not fully understood, and not all paleontologists agree. Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki, Stephen L. Brusatte et al. (2014) described a European putative member of the group on the basis of Norian age fossils discovered in Poland.[13] An unnamed herrerasaurid was reported from the Carnian Pebbly Arkose Formation in Zimbabwe by Griffin et al. (2022).[14] Other possible basal saurischians include Alwalkeria from the Late Triassic Maleri Formation of southern India,[15] and Teyuwasu (recently considered synonym of Staurikosaurus),[16] known from very fragmentary remains from the Late Triassic of Brazil.[17]

The discovery of the Herrerasaurid Gnathovorax indicates that the family falls outside the Theropoda and Sauropodomorpha in the cladistic analysis undertaken on the genus when it was described, but remains squarely within Saurischia as basal members of the order.[18][19] An unnamed herrerasaurid from the Carnian of Brazil was described and possibly belongs to a new morphotype of relatively large proportions, informally known as the "Big Saturnalia". In the phylogenetic analysis within this study, herrerasaurids are recovered as non-eusaurischian saurischians.[20]

Phylogeny

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Fernando Novas (1992) defined Herrerasauridae as Herrerasaurus, Staurikosaurus, and their most recent common ancestor.[21] Paul Sereno (1998) defined the group as the most inclusive clade including H. ischigualastensis but not Passer domesticus.[22] Langer (2004) provided first phylogenetic definition of a higher level taxon, Herrerasauria, as Herrerasaurus but not Liliensternus or Plateosaurus.[3] According to current phylogenetic studies, all of these definitions describe the same clade.

The first cladogram presented follows one proposed analysis by Novas et al. in May 2011. In this review, Herrerasaurus is found to be a basal saurischian, but not a theropod.[23] The second cladogram is based on an analysis by Sues et al. in April 2011. This review classified Herrerasaurus as a basal theropod.[24]

  Dinosauria  
  Dinosauria  

A large phylogenetic analysis of early dinosaurs by Matthew Baron, David Norman and Paul Barrett (2017) found Herrerasauridae within the clade Saurischia, as the sister group to Sauropodomorpha. This was the result of the removal of Theropoda from Saurischia and its placement next to Ornithischia within the newly created clade Ornithoscelida.[26]

  Dinosauria  

Baron & Williams (2018) found Herrerasauria (including Daemonosaurus, Caseosaurus and Saltopus) outside Dinosauria.[12] A similar result was provided by the phylogenetic analysis by Cau, 2018:[27]

Dracohors

Novas et al., 2021 revised the fossil record of South American early dinosaurs and supported that Herrerasauria is part of Saurischia but diverging earlier than both Sauropodomorpha or Theropoda, and further corroborated with the hypothesis that Chindesaurus, Daemonosaurus and Tawa are members of the clade.[28] In 2024, Andrea Cau reclassified Herrerasauria within Theropoda.[29]

Timeline of genera

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Late TriassicMiddle TriassicEarly TriassicRhaetianNorianCarnianLadinianAnisianOlenekianInduanCaseosaurusHerrerasaurusSanjuansaurusStaurikosaurusGnathovoraxLate TriassicMiddle TriassicEarly TriassicRhaetianNorianCarnianLadinianAnisianOlenekianInduan

References

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Wikispecies has information related to Herrerasauridae.
  1. ^ Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012). "Winter 2011 Appendix" (PDF). Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages.
  2. ^ Langer, M.C.; Ramezani, J.; Da Rosa, Á.A.S. (2018). "U-Pb age constraints on dinosaur rise from south Brazil". Gondwana Research. X (18): 133–140. Bibcode:2018GondR..57..133L. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2018.01.005.
  3. ^ a b c Langer, Max C. (2004). "Basal Saurischia". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 25–46. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8. OCLC 55000644. OL 3305845M.
  4. ^ Langer, Max C; Benton, Michael J. (2006). "Early dinosaurs: a phylogenetic study". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 4 (4): 309–358. Bibcode:2006JSPal...4..309L. doi:10.1017/S1477201906001970. S2CID 55723635.
  5. ^ Brinkman, Donald B.; Sues, Hans-Dieter (1987). "A staurikosaurid dinosaur from the Upper Triassic Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina and the relationships of the Staurikosauridae". Palaeontology. 30: 493–503.
  6. ^ Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Smith, Nathan D.; Irmis, Randall B.; Turner, Alan H.; Downs, Alex & Norell, Mark A. (2009). "A complete skeleton of a Late Triassic saurischian and the early evolution of dinosaurs". Science. 326 (5959): 1530–1533. Bibcode:2009Sci...326.1530N. doi:10.1126/science.1180350. PMID 20007898. S2CID 8349110.
  7. ^ Ezcurra, Martin D. (2010). "A new early dinosaur (Saurischia: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic of Argentina: a reassessment of dinosaur origin and phylogeny". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 8 (3): 371–425. Bibcode:2010JSPal...8..371E. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.484650. S2CID 129244872.
  8. ^ Alcober, Oscar A.; Martinez, Ricardo N. (2010). "A new herrerasaurid (Dinosauria, Saurischia) from the Upper Triassic Ischigualasto Formation of northwestern Argentina". ZooKeys (63): 55–81. Bibcode:2010ZooK...63...55A. doi:10.3897/zookeys.63.550. PMC 3088398. PMID 21594020.
  9. ^ Colbert, E.H. (1970). "A saurischian dinosaur from the Triassic of Brazil". American Museum Novitates (2405): 1–39.
  10. ^ Long, R. A.; Murry, P. A. (1995). "Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) Tetrapods from the Southwestern United States". Bulletin. 4. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science: 1–254.
  11. ^ Hunt, Adrian P.; Lucas, Spencer G.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Sullivan, Robert M.; Lockley, Martin G. (1998). "Late Triassic Dinosaurs from the Western United States". Geobios. 31 (4): 511–531. Bibcode:1998Geobi..31..511H. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(98)80123-X.
  12. ^ a b Matthew G. Baron; Megan E. Williams (2018). "A re-evaluation of the enigmatic dinosauriform Caseosaurus crosbyensis from the Late Triassic of Texas, USA and its implications for early dinosaur evolution". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 63. doi:10.4202/app.00372.2017.
  13. ^ Niedźwiedzki, Grzegorz; Brusatte, Stephen L.; Sulej, Tomasz; Butler, Richard J. (2014). "Basal dinosauriform and theropod dinosaurs from the mid–late Norian (Late Triassic) of Poland: implications for Triassic dinosaur evolution and distribution". Palaeontology. 57 (6): 1121–1142. Bibcode:2014Palgy..57.1121N. doi:10.1111/pala.12107. S2CID 129114548.
  14. ^ Griffin, C. T.; Wynd, B. M.; Munyikwa, D.; Broderick, T. J.; Zondo, M.; Tolan, S.; Langer, M. C.; Nesbitt, S.J.; Taruvinga, H. R. (2022). "Africa's oldest dinosaurs reveal early suppression of dinosaur distribution". Nature. 609 (7926): 313–319. Bibcode:2022Natur.609..313G. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05133-x. PMID 36045297. S2CID 251977824.
  15. ^ Chatterjee, Sankar; Creisler, Benjamin S. (1994). "Alwalkeria (Theropoda) and Morturneria (Plesiosauria), new names for preoccupied Walkeria Chatterjee, 1987 and Turneria Chatterjee and Small, 1989". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 14 (1): 142. Bibcode:1994JVPal..14..142C. doi:10.1080/02724634.1994.10011546.
  16. ^ Garcia, Maurício S.; Müller, Rodrigo T.; Dias-Da-Silva, Sérgio (2019-07-04). "On the taxonomic status of Teyuwasu barberenai Kischlat, 1999 (Archosauria: Dinosauriformes), a challenging taxon from the Upper Triassic of southern Brazil". Zootaxa. 4629 (1): 146–150. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4629.1.12. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 31712541. S2CID 198274900.
  17. ^ Kischlat, E.-E. (1999). "A new dinosaurian "rescued" from the Brazilian Triassic: Teyuwasu barberenai, new taxon". Paleontologia Em Destaque, Boletim Informativo da Sociedade Brasileira de Paleontologia. 14 (26): 58.
  18. ^ "Stunning Skeleton Reveals Early Carnivorous Dinosaur".
  19. ^ Pacheco, Cristian; Müller, Rodrigo T.; Langer, Max; Pretto, Flávio A.; Kerber, Leonardo; Dias Da Silva, Sérgio (2019). "Gnathovorax cabreirai: A new early dinosaur and the origin and initial radiation of predatory dinosaurs". PeerJ. 7: e7963. doi:10.7717/peerj.7963. PMC 6844243. PMID 31720108.
  20. ^ Garcia, Maurício S.; Müller, Rodrigo T.; Pretto, Flávio A.; Da-Rosa, Átila A. S.; Dias-Da-Silva, Sérgio (2021-01-02). "Taxonomic and phylogenetic reassessment of a large-bodied dinosaur from the earliest dinosaur-bearing beds (Carnian, Upper Triassic) from southern Brazil". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19 (1): 1–37. Bibcode:2021JSPal..19....1G. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.1873433. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 232313141.
  21. ^ Novas, F. E. (1992). "Phylogenetic relationships of the basal dinosaurs, the Herrerasauridae". Palaeontology. 35: 51–62.
  22. ^ Sereno, P. C. (1998). "A rationale for phylogenetic definitions, with application to the higher-level taxonomy of Dinosauria". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen. 210 (1): 41–83. doi:10.1127/njgpa/210/1998/41.
  23. ^ Novas, Fernando E.; Ezcurra, Martin D.; Chatterjee, Sankar; Kutty, T. S. (2011). "New dinosaur species from the Upper Triassic Upper Maleri and Lower Dharmaram formations of central India". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 101 (3–4): 333–349. Bibcode:2010EESTR.101..333N. doi:10.1017/S1755691011020093. S2CID 128620874.
  24. ^ Sues, Hans-Dieter; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Berman, David S.; Henrici, Amy C. (2011). "A late-surviving basal theropod dinosaur from the latest Triassic of North America". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 278 (1723): 3459–64. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.0410. PMC 3177637. PMID 21490016.
  25. ^ Garcia, M. S.; Müller, R. T.; Pretto, F. A.; Da-Rosa, Á. A. S.; Dias-Da-Silva, S. (2021). "Taxonomic and phylogenetic reassessment of a large-bodied dinosaur from the earliest dinosaur-bearing beds (Carnian, Upper Triassic) from southern Brazil". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 19: 1–37. Bibcode:2021JSPal..19....1G. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.1873433. S2CID 232313141.
  26. ^ Baron, M.G.; Norman, D.B.; Barrett, P.M. (2017). "A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution". Nature. 543 (7646): 501–506. Bibcode:2017Natur.543..501B. doi:10.1038/nature21700. PMID 28332513. S2CID 205254710.
  27. ^ Andrea Cau (2018). "The assembly of the avian body plan: a 160-million-year long process" (PDF). Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 57 (1): 1–25. doi:10.4435/BSPI.2018.01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  28. ^ Novas, Fernando E.; Agnolin, Federico L.; Ezcurra, Martín D.; Temp Müller, Rodrigo; Martinelli, Agustín G.; Langer, Max C. (2021-10-01). "Review of the fossil record of early dinosaurs from South America, and its phylogenetic implications". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 110: 103341. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11003341N. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103341. ISSN 0895-9811.
  29. ^ Cau, A. (2024). "A Unified Framework for Predatory Dinosaur Macroevolution". Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana. 63 (1). doi:10.4435/BSPI.2024.08.
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