Temporal range: Late Jurassic - Late Cretaceous, 164–66 Ma
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Reconstructed skeleton of Masiakasaurus knopfleri, Royal Ontario Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Clade:
Dinosauria
Clade:
Saurischia
Clade:
Theropoda
Clade:
†Abelisauria
Family:
†Noasauridae Bonaparte & Powell, 1980
Subgroups
†Afromimus[1]
†Berthasaura
†Compsosuchus?
†Deltadromeus?
†Genusaurus?
†Kiyacursor[2]
†Laevisuchus
†Ligabueino?
†Elaphrosaurinae[3]
†Elaphrosaurus
†Huinculsaurus
†Limusaurus
†Noasaurinae[3]
†Masiakasaurus
†Noasaurus
†Velocisaurus
†Vespersaurus
Synonyms
Velocisauridae Bonaparte, 1991
Noasauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria. They were closely related to the short-armed abelisaurids, although most noasaurids had much more traditional body types generally similar to other theropods. Their heads, on the other hand, had unusual adaptations depending on the subfamily. 'Traditional' noasaurids, sometimes grouped in the subfamily Noasaurinae, had sharp teeth which splayed outwards from a downturned lower jaw.
The most complete and well-known example of these kinds of noasaurids was Masiakasaurus knopfleri from Madagascar.[4] Another group, Elaphrosaurinae, has also been placed within Noasauridae by some studies.[3] Elaphrosaurines developed toothless jaws and herbivorous diets, at least as adults.[5]
The most complete and well known elaphrosaurine was Limusaurus inextricabilis. At least some noasaurids had pneumatised cervical vertebrae.[6] Some are considered to have had cursorial habits.[7] Noasauridae is defined as all theropods closer to Noasaurus than to Abelisaurus.[8]
^Cerroni, M.A.; Agnolin, F.L.; Brissón Egli, F.; Novas, F.E. (2019). "The phylogenetic position of Afromimus tenerensis Sereno, 2017 and its paleobiogeographical implications". Journal of African Earth Sciences. 159: 103572. doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103572. S2CID 201352476.
^Averianov, A. O.; Skutschas, P. P.; Atuchin, A. A.; Slobodin, D. A.; Feofanova, O. A.; Vladimirova, O. N. (2024). "The last ceratosaur of Asia: a new noasaurid from the Early Cretaceous Great Siberian Refugium". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 291 (2023). 20240537. doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.0537.
^ abcRauhut, Oliver W. M.; Carrano, Matthew T. (2016-04-22). "The theropod dinosaur Elaphrosaurus bambergi Janensch, 1920, from the Late Jurassic of Tendaguru, Tanzania". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 178 (3): 546–610. doi:10.1111/zoj.12425. ISSN 0024-4082.
^Andrew H. Lee & Patrick M. O’Connor (2013) Bone histology confirms determinate growth and small body size in the noasaurid theropod Masiakasaurus knopfleri. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(4): 865-876
^Wang, S.; Stiegler, J.; Amiot, R.; Wang, X.; Du, G.-H.; Clark, J.M.; Xu, X. (2017). "Extreme Ontogenetic Changes in a Ceratosaurian Theropod" (PDF). Current Biology. 27 (1): 144–148. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.10.043. PMID 28017609. S2CID 441498.
^Arthur Souza Brum, Elaine Batista Machado, Diogenes de Almeida Campos & Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner (2017). Description of uncommon pneumatic structures of a noasaurid (Theropoda, Dinosauria) cervical vertebra to the Bauru Group (Upper Cretaceous), Brazil. Cretaceous Research (advance online publication). doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.10.012
^Cite error: The named reference :02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Noasauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria. They were closely related to the short-armed abelisaurids...
considered it a ceratosaurian, more specifically a member of the family Noasauridae. The holotype of Deltadromeus agilis (museum catalogue number SGM-Din2)...
Abelisauroidea is a superfamily which contains the family Noasauridae and Abelisauridae. Noasauridae was a very diverse group, with the two most complete members...
years ago. Ceratosauria includes three major clades: Ceratosauridae, Noasauridae, and Abelisauridae, found primarily (though not exclusively) in the Southern...
Rapetosaurus, and Rahonavis. Masiakasaurus was a member of the group Noasauridae, small predatory ceratosaurs found primarily in South America. Remains...
(2020-08-01). "First elaphrosaurine theropod dinosaur (Ceratosauria: Noasauridae) from Australia — A cervical vertebra from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria"...
ceratosaur-centric matrix resulted in it being found as part of the Noasauridae in a polytomy (unresolved group). In this analysis, the inclusion of...
Coelurosauria. Bonaparte and Powell assigned it to a family of its own, the Noasauridae. In 1988, Gregory S. Paul saw them as members of the Abelisauridae and...
Ceratosauria and the superfamily Abelisauroidea, which also contains the family Noasauridae. It has had several definitions in phylogenetic taxonomy. It was originally...
abelisauroids with short arms and oftentimes elaborate facial ornamentation) †Noasauridae (diverse, generally light theropods; may include several obscure taxa)...
Contrary to initial classifications that placed it as a member of the Noasauridae, Carrano and colleagues found in 2011 that it could only be placed with...
Carrano, and Forster, 2001, and implications for the morphology of the Noasauridae (Theropoda: Ceratosauria) / Matthew T. Carrano, Mark A. Loewen, and Joseph...
known member of the group Ceratosauria from Asia. It belonged to the Noasauridae, a family of small and lightly built ceratosaurs, along with its closest...
with some studies placing them as basal ceratosaurs possibly related to Noasauridae (which they may also include the otherwise noasaurid subfamily Elaphrosaurinae)...
scapulocoracod and metatarsals, Elaphrosaurus was actually an early member of the Noasauridae within Ceratosauria, and that it formed a distinct group with certain...
which is considered a family in Linnaean taxonomy. Along with the family Noasauridae, abelisaurids are included in the superfamily Abelisauroidea, which is...
José F. (1991). "The gondwanian theropod families Abelisauridae and Noasauridae". Historical Biology. 5: 1. doi:10.1080/10292389109380385. Bonaparte...
itself contains a group of derived (nonbasal) members of the families Noasauridae and Abelisauridae, which are bracketed within the clade Abelisauroidea...
theropod from the Lameta Formation. In 2024, Laevisuchus was recovered as a Noasauridae, specifically in an unresolved position outside the clade that includes...
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