Tetanurae (/ˌtɛtəˈnjuːriː/; meaning "stiff tails") is a clade that includes most theropod dinosaurs, including megalosauroids, allosauroids, and coelurosaurs (which includes tyrannosauroids, ornithomimosaurs, compsognathids and maniraptorans, the latter including living birds). Tetanurans are defined as all theropods more closely related to modern birds than to Ceratosaurus and contain the majority of predatory dinosaur diversity. Tetanurae likely diverged from its sister group, Ceratosauria, during the late Triassic. Tetanurae first appeared in the fossil record by the Early Jurassic about 190 mya and by the Middle Jurassic had become globally distributed. The group was named by Jacques Gauthier in 1986 and originally had two main subgroups: Carnosauria and Coelurosauria, the clade containing birds and related dinosaurs such as compsognathids, tyrannosaurids, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptorans. The original Carnosauria was a polyphyletic group including any large carnivorous theropod. Many of Gauthier's carnosaurs, such as tyrannosaurids, have since been re-classified as coelurosaurs or primitive tetanurans. Carnosauria has been reclassified as a group containing allosaurids that split from the Coelurosauria at the Neotetanurae/Avetheropoda node. Members of Megalosauroidea are believed to represent basal tetanurans, but recent discoveries have shown that they might be members of Carnosauria expanding Carnosauria back to its original meaning. It is however agreed that Megalosauroids, Allosauroids and Coelurosaurians are all members of the Orionides, a subset within Tetanurae that contains dinosaurs more derived than animals such as Chuandongcoelurus and Kayentavenator. Tetanuran evolution was characterized by parallel diversification of multiple lineages, repeatedly attaining large body size and similar locomotor morphology. Cryolophosaurus has been claimed as the first true member of the group, but subsequent studies have disagreed on whether it is a dilophosaurid or tetanuran. Arcucci and Coria (2003) classified Zupaysaurus as an early tetanuran, but it was later placed as a sister taxon to the clade containing dilophosaurids, ceratosaurs, and tetanurans. Shared tetanuran features include a ribcage indicating a sophisticated air-sac-ventilated lung system similar to that in modern birds. This character would have been accompanied by an advanced circulatory system. Other tetanuran characterizing features include the absence of the fourth digit of the hand, placement of the maxillary teeth anterior to the orbit, a strap-like scapula, maxillary fenestrae, and stiffened tails. During the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, large spinosaurids and allosaurs flourished but possibly died out in the northern hemisphere before the end of the Cretaceous, and were replaced as apex predators by tyrannosauroid coelurosaurs. At least in South America, carcharodontosaurid allosaurs may have persisted until the end of the Mesozoic Era, and died out at the same time as the non-avian coelurosaurs.
Morphology
Anatomy Tetanurans have two basic skull morphologies. The first skull type, typical in large theropods such as Allosaurus, is common within ceratosaurs and may be primitive for tetanurans. In this type, the skull is about three times longer than tall, with a blunter snout and frequent elaborations such as horns or spikes along the lacrimals, nasals, and frontals. In the second skull type, the skull is lower and longer, with a less elaborated skull roof and a more elongated snout. Shared tetanuran features include the maxillary fenestra (an opening in the antorbital fossa), a pneumatic excavation in the jugal, and the position of the maxillary teeth anterior to the orbit. The posterior skull is little modified in tetanurans, except within Spinosauridae. The presence of an antorbital tooth row in tetanurans may be associated with macropredatory habits. In the postcranial skeleton, tetanurans transition between the most primitive theropod morphologies in basal tetanurans towards more derived, bird-like states in coelurosaurs. Most tetanurans possess specialized wrist bones, the absence or reduction of the fourth digit of the hand, a strap-like scapula, stiffened tails, and a laminar astragalar ascending process. Advanced tetanurans would have possessed a sophisticated air-sac-ventilated lung system similar to birds, and an advanced circulatory system. In megalosaurids and allosaurids, the orientation of the femoral head is anteromedial such as in ceratosaurs, but in avetheropods this orientation is fully medial. Tetanuran locomotor morphology is relatively generalized, with few variations between taxa. The hands of tetanurans, unlike those of the closely related ceratosaurs, lack a fourth finger. Early tetanurans still possessed metacarpal IV, but it was vestigial and not part of a finger anymore. The tridactyl manus was preserved in birds. Evidence from the basal ceratosaur Saltriovenator indicates the tetanuran digits are I, II and III instead of II, III and IV.
Body Size Basal tetanurans were the first theropods to achieve truly giant body sizes, with both megalosauroid and allosauroid taxa weighing over 1 ton. Sequential temporal appearances of large body size in subsequent clades suggest a pattern of size-cycles, with the extinction of incumbent giant forms allowing for replacement with a new, more bird-like theropod group that then also evolved giant body size. It is, however, possible that more than one giant tetanuran existed at a time in the same paleoenvironment, perhaps with feeding habit variations. Within most dinosaur clades, body size tended to increase over time along a lineage according to Cope's rule. Coelurosaurian theropods are the notable exception to the pattern of body size increases.
History of study
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