Sinraptoridae Currie and Zhao, 19936

Rauhut, Oliver W. M., 2003, The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropod dinosaurs, Special papers in palaeontology 69, pp. 1-213 : 27

Sinraptoridae Currie and Zhao, 19936

Included taxa. Sinraptor dongi Currie and Zhao, 19936 ; Sinraptor hepingensis ( Gao, 1992) ; Yangchuanosaurus magnus Dong, Zhou and Zhang, 1983 ; Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis Dong, Chang, Li and Zhou, 1978 .

Temporal range. Late Jurassic.

Occurrence. Shishugou Formation, Xinjiang, China; Shangshaxiamiao Formation, Sichuan, China.

Diagnosis. Promaxillary foramen enlarged and larger than maxillary foramen; large, deep excavatio pneumatica in the ascending process of the maxilla, enclosing one or several pneumatic openings; a further synapomorphy of sinraptorids may be the presence of a medial posterior prong in the jugal; the existence of this prong is known in S. dongi , but its presence cannot be confirmed in the other species because these taxa are based on articulated skulls.

Remarks. Although all of the taxa included in the Sinraptoridae have been described as separate species, their morphology seems to be almost identical, as far as can be judged from published accounts ( Dong et al. 1983; Gao 1992; Currie and Zhao 19936). Since both species of Yangchuanosaurus are also from the same formation, it seems possible that all the specimens represent only one species. The differences between Sinraptor dongi and Sinraptor hepingensis listed by Currie and Zhao (19936, p. 2039) are very slight and probably lie within the limits of individual variation. However, since I have not examined this material, all described species are provisionally retained as valid taxa, pending a revision of the Sinraptoridae . Given that all character codings within sinraptorids are identical, they are treated as one operational unit.