Bahariasauridae is a potential family of averostran

theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...

s that might include a handful of African and South American genera, such as ''

Aoniraptor ''Aoniraptor'' is a megaraptoran theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina (Huincul Formation). Discovery and naming The holotype, MPCA-Pv 804/1 to 804/25, which consists of the last sacral vertebra, six proximal caudal vertebrae, four mid ...

'', ''

Bahariasaurus ''Bahariasaurus'' (meaning "Bahariya lizard") is an enigmatic genus of large theropod dinosaur. ''Bahariasaurus'' is known to have included at least 1 species, ''Bahariasaurus ingens'', which was found in North African rock layers dating to the C ...

'', ''

Deltadromeus ''Deltadromeus'' (meaning "delta runner") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from Northern Africa. It had long, unusually slender hind limbs for its size, suggesting that it was a swift runner. The skull is not known. One fossil specimen of a sin ...

'', and ''

Gualicho ''Gualicho'' (named in reference to the gualichu) is a genus of theropod dinosaur. The type species is ''Gualicho shinyae''. It lived in what is now northern Patagonia, on what was then a South American island continent split off from the superco ...

''. The placement of these theropods is controversial, with some studies placing them as basal

ceratosaur Ceratosaurs are members of the clade Ceratosauria, a group of dinosaurs defined as all theropods sharing a more recent common ancestor with ''Ceratosaurus'' than with birds. The oldest known ceratosaur, ''Saltriovenator'', dates to the earliest ...

s possibly related to

Noasauridae Noasauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria. They were closely related to the short-armed abelisaurids, although most noasaurids had much more traditional body types generally similar to other ther ...

(which they may also include the otherwise noasaurid subfamily

Elaphrosaurinae Noasauridae is an extinct family of theropod dinosaurs belonging to the group Ceratosauria. They were closely related to the short-armed Abelisauridae, abelisaurids, although most noasaurids had much more traditional body types generally simila ...

), others classifying them as

megaraptoran Megaraptora is a clade of carnivorous Tetanurae, tetanuran theropod dinosaurs with controversial relations to other theropods. Its Derived (phylogenetics), derived members, the Megaraptoridae are noted for their elongated hand claws and proporti ...

s, basal

neovenatorid Neovenatoridae is a proposed clade of carcharodontosaurian dinosaurs uniting some primitive members of the group such as ''Neovenator'' with the Megaraptora, a group of theropods with controversial affinities. Other studies recover megaraptorans ...

s, or basal

coelurosaur Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyrann ...

s. There is also a possibility the group might not be

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

, as a monograph on the vertebrate diversity in the

Kem Kem Beds The Kem Kem Group (commonly known as the Kem Kem beds) is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations, ...

published in 2020 found ''Bahariasaurus'' to be ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

''. In the same paper ''Deltadromeus'' is classified as an noasaurid, a result also recovered by some previous studies.Rauhut, O.W.M., and Carrano, M.T. (2016). The theropod dinosaur ''Elaphrosaurus bambergi'' Janensch, 1920, from the Late Jurassic of Tendaguru, Tanzania. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'', (advance online publication)

References

Prehistoric neotheropods Cenomanian first appearances {{Theropod-stub