Erratum on “an Overview of Non-avian Theropod Discoveries and Classification

Authors

  • Christophe Hendrickx Evolutionary Studies Institute, Center of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa & Museu da Lourinhã, 9 Rua João Luis de Moura, 2530-158, Lourinhã, Portugal
  • Matthew T Carrano Evolutionary Studies Institute, Center of Excellence in Palaeosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa & Museu da Lourinhã, 9 Rua João Luis de Moura, 2530-158, Lourinhã, Portugal

Keywords:

Theropoda, Discovery, Dilophosauridae

Abstract

In their recent publication on an overview of theropod discoveries and classification, Hendrickx and colleagues mistakenly attributed the earliest historical reports of nonavian theropods in North America and South America to Joseph Leidy in 1856 and Florentino Ameghino in 1899, respectively. Yet, theropod tracks from Massachusetts had already been reported by Hitchcock in 1836, and isolated theropod centra from Patagonia were described by Lydekker in 1893. We here provide additional information on the earliest theropod discoveries in Asia, America and Oceania. We also credit Thomas Holtz as being the first author to give a phylogenetic definition for the clade Dilophosauridae, and correct the phylogenetic definitions of the clades Allosauroidea and Megalosauria.

Earliest historical records of theropod remains in North America (A) and South America (B). A) Theropod footprints referred to the ichnospecies Ornithichnites giganteus and O. tuberosus from the Lower Jurassic of the Connecticut River, Massachusetts, and first reported and illustrated by Hitchcock (1836: plate appended “Proportional view of the Ornithichnites”; modified); B) Caudal centrum of a theropod (‘5’) and dorsal centrum of a ?neovenatorid theropod (‘6’), from the Upper Cretaceous of the Neuquén region, Argentina, and first described and illustrated by Lydekker (1893: plate 3)

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Published

2016-02-23

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2 (2016): PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology

Section

Original Article