Spinostropheus

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Spinostropheus Fossil range: Early Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Saurischia Suborder: Theropoda Infraorder: Ceratosauria Superfamily: Abelisauroidea Genus: Spinostropheus Sereno et al. 2002
Species
S. gautieri (Lapparent, 1960 [originally Elaphrosaurus gautieri]) (type)

Spinostropheus is a genus of small ceratosaurian dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period of Niger. Originally thought to be a species of the closely related Elaphrosaurus, subsequent studies (Sereno et al. 2002) have found that it is more closely related to the abelisaurs.

[edit] References

• Lapparent (1960). "Les dinosauriens du 'Continental intercalaire' du Sahara central." Mem. Soc. Geol. France. 88A:1-57.
• Sereno, Conrad and Wilson (2002). "Abelisaurid theropods from Africa: Phylogenetic and biogeographic implications." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22(3):106A.