New analysis finds megaraptorans to be related to tyrannosaurs

[Halichoeres]

A new study describes some new anatomy for Murusraptor, and uses the data in a new phylogenetic analysis. Their results suggest that they are near the base of Coelurosauria, possibly related to the tyrannosaurs. There's still a fair amount of uncertainty about this, so expect updates in the next several years, although the anatomical work in this paper looks good to me and will no doubt prove more resilient.

Here's the key figure:


Paper is paywalled by the horrible Elsevier, but you know what to do if you want a pdf: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118300296

[Tyto_Theropod]

Thanks for posting this, @Halichoeres. By sheer coincidence I'd been wondering about the conundrum over placing this group because of a potential custom. If further studies agree with this finding (and I don't see why they shouldn't) I'll definitely be doing feathers if I get around to the project.

[Gothmog the Baryonyx]

Very interesting.

I was thinking about Megaraptorans recently too (and a couple of weeks ago someone on facebook said he'd answer any question about dinosaurs so I asked him about whether he thought Megaraptorans were Allosauroids, Tyrannosauroids or something else. It would be nice to know an actual answer.