STL Science Center

STL Science Center

25 February 2015

Basal Trees

Gasosaurus has been defined as many things since its initial description. The carnosaur has been considered a basal coelurosausian by some. In fact, it has been mentioned as being potentially the basal most of all coelurosaurians. All of the changes concerning the position of Gasosaurus has even claimed the same authors as they changed their proposed nodes on the trees. As an example, Holtz 2000 and Holtz et al. 2004 changed its position from basal coelurosaurian to basal carnosaur (respectively). As a basal member of either defined tree Gasosaurus rests at the base of the tetanuran lineage as well. Despite being a basal dinosaur, Gasosaurus was still an effective mid-sized predator, as we can see as it chases down an Agilisaurus in the Zigong Museum in China.

References:
Holtz, 2000. A new phylogeny of the carnivorous dinosaurs. Gaia. 15, 5-61.
Holtz TR Jr, Molnar RE, Currie PJ. 2004. Basal Tetanurae. In: Weishampel DB, Dodson P, Osmólska H, eds. The dinosauria, 2nd edn. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 71–110.

No comments:

Post a Comment