Belongs within: Dinosauria.
Contains: Neotheropoda.
The Theropoda are best known as the clade of primarily carnivorous dinosaurs. They also, through the birds, include the only dinosaurs to survive to the present day. However, the composition of this clade (defined by Baron et al., 2017, as all taxa closer to Passer than Diplodocus and Triceratops) outside the Neotheropoda remains contentious. Taxa such as Herrerasaurus and Staurikosaurus are variously placed, depending on the analysis, as basal members of Theropoda, basal Sauropodomorpha, or outside the clade of these taxa.
The Herrerasauria are known from the Late Triassic of North and South America. These were relatively large carnivorous dinosaurs for the time with Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis growing about four metres in length (Paul 1988).
<==Theropoda [Herrerasauridae, Herreravia]
|--+--Eodromaeus murphiFR24
| `--+--HerrerasauriaFR24
| | |--Herrerasaurus Reig 1963KN20, L04 [incl. Frenguellisaurus Novas 1986L04, Ischisaurus Reig 1963L04]
| | | `--H. ischigualastensis Reig 1963 (see below for synonymy)L04
| | `--+--Sanjuansaurus gordilloiBNB17
| | `--Chindesaurus Long & Murry 1995NS09, L04 [incl. Caseosaurus Hunt, Lucas et al. 1998L04]
| | `--C. bryansmalli Long & Murry 1995 [incl. Caseosaurus crosbyensis Hunt, Lucas et al. 1998]L04
| `--Staurikosaurus Colbert 1970FR24, L04
| `--S. pricei Colbert 1970L04
`--+--Tawa Nesbitt, Smith et al. 2009BNB17, NS09
| `--*T. hallae Nesbitt, Smith et al. 2009NS09
`--+--NeotheropodaFR24
`--Liliensternus Welles 1984BNB17, TR04
|--L. airelensis Cuny & Galton 1993TR04
|--L. liliensterni (Huene 1934) [=Halticosaurus liliensternus]TR04
`--L. orbitoangulatusD07
Theropoda incertae sedis:
Compsosuchus Huene & Matley 1933WS03
`--*C. solus Huene & Matley 1933WS03
Aggiosaurus (n. d.)N85
Arctosaurus Adams 1875 (n. d.)N85, M96
Gwyneddosaurus (n. d.)N85
Macrodontophion (n. d.)N85
Pneumatoarthmus (n. d.)N85
Calamosaurus foxii (Lydekker 1889) [=Calamospondylus foxii]N02
Calamospondylus Fox in Anon. 1866 (n. d.)N02
`--*C. oweni Fox in Anon. 1866 (n. d.)N02 [=Aristosuchus oweniP88]
Aliwalia Galton 1985P88, L04
`--A. rex Galton 1985L04
Alwalkeria Chatterjee & Creisler 1994L04 [=Walkeria Chatterjee 1986 non Fleming 1823P88, L04]
`--A. maleriensis (Chatterjee 1986) [=Walkeria maleriensis]L04
Gnathovorax cabreiraiFR24
Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis Reig 1963 [incl. Ischisaurus cattoi Reig 1963, Frenguellisaurus ischigualastensis Novas 1986 non H. ischigualastensis Reig 1963]L04
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BNB17] Baron, M. G., D. B. Norman & P. M. Barrett. 2017. A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinosaur evolution. Nature 543: 501–506.
[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.
[FR24] Fonseca, A. O., I. J. Reid, A. Venner, R. J. Duncan, M. S. Garcia & R. T. Müller. 2024. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis on early ornithischian evolution. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22 (1): 2346577.
[KN20] Kammerer, C. F., S. J. Nesbitt, J. J. Flynn, L. Ranivoharimanana & A. R. Wyss. 2020. A tiny ornithodiran archosaur from the Triassic of Madagascar and the role of miniaturization in dinosaur and pterosaur ancestry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 117 (30): 17932–17936.
[L04] Langer, M. C. 2004. Basal Saurischia. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2nd ed. pp. 25–46. University of California Press: Berkeley.
[M96] Marsh, O. C. 1896. The Dinosaurs of North America: Washington.
[N02] Naish, D. 2002. The historical taxonomy of the Lower Cretaceous theropods (Dinosauria) Calamospondylus and Aristosuchus from the Isle of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 113: 153–163.
[NS09] Nesbitt, S. J., N. D. Smith, R. B. Irmis, A. H. Turner, A. Downs & M. A. Norell. 2009. A complete skeleton of a Late Triassic saurischian and the early evolution of dinosaurs. Science 326: 1530–1533.
[N85] Norman, D. 1985. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. Salamander Books: London.
[P88] Paul, G. S. 1988. Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide. Simon & Schuster: New York.
[TR04] Tykoski, R. S., & T. Rowe. 2004. Ceratosauria. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2nd ed. pp. 47–70. University of California Press: Berkeley.
[WS03] Wilson, J. A., P. C. Sereno, S. Srivastava, D. K. Bhatt, A. Khosla & A. Sahni. 2003. A new abelisaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of India. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan 31 (1): 1–42.