Coeluroides
- Madhya Pradesh, India ( Lameta Formation)
- Coeluroides largus
Coeluroides is a dubious ( doubtful ) genus of theropod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous ( Maastrichtian ) of India. She is known only from isolated encountered, fragmentary vertebrae, which were discovered near the town of Jabalpur in the layers of Lameta lineup. Today Coeluroides is classified within the Ceratosauria. The only way is Coeluroides largus.
Features
Known are four vertebrae and a single caudal vertebrae. These fossils belong to a medium-sized theropods, which was probably similar in size to the contemporary genres Indosuchus and Indosaurus. Compared with other representatives of Ceratosauria the base of the spinous processes was stretched longitudinally. The transverse processes were viewed from above approximately triangular.
System
Initially was Coeluroides as a representative of the Coelurosauria. Later, a possible position within the Carnosauria was discussed. Novas (2004 ) showed that it was a representative of the Ceratosauria, which may be classified within the Abelisauroidea. Carrano and Sampson (2008 ) indicate that the size of the fossils and the proportions of the caudal vertebral body found allow a preliminary classification within the Abelisauridae.
History of research, naming and validity
Coeluroides was described in 1933 by the paleontologist Friedrich von Huene and Charles Matley; The findings come from the layers of Lameta formation near the city Jabalpur. The name Coeluroides ( gr koilos " hollow "; gr oura "tail"; - oides - "similar" ) means something like " Coelurus -like " because this animal was initially thought to be a representative of the Coelurosauria.
Since the fossils show no features that allow differentiation from other genres Coeluroides is now considered as a noun dubium. Coeluroides joins more than half a dozen genera of Abelisauroidea that have been described from the Lameta lineup. Since the bones were rarely found in the context, but usually insulated, and since a large part of these fossils has been lost today, these genera can not make sense distinguish from each other in the current situation. So was the bone material, which has been described as Coeluroides, Lametasaurus, Dryptosauroides, Indosuchus, Indosaurus, Ornithomimoides mobilis and Rajasaurus, probably only one or two different genera.