Averostra
Averostra
Clade of dinosaurs
Averostra, or "bird snouts", is a clade that includes most theropod dinosaurs, namely Ceratosauria and Tetanurae, and represent the only group of post-Early Jurassic theropods. Both survived into the Cretaceous period. When the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event occurred, ceratosaurians, megaraptorans an incertae sedis group within Tetanurae, and two groups of tetanurans within the clade Coelurosauria, the Tyrannosauroidea and Maniraptoriformes, were still extant. Only one subgroup of Maniraptoriformes, Aves, survived the extinction event and persisted to the present day.
It has been suggested that this article be merged into Neotheropoda. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2024. |
One important diagnostic feature of Averostra is the absence of the fifth metacarpal. Other saurischians retained this bone, albeit in a significantly reduced form.[1]