Talk:Silesaurus

Phylogeny of Silesaurus
A new study published by Sterling Nesbitt, Randall Irmis, and Steve Parker in 2005 shows Silesaurus to be related to be Eucoelophysis, originally classified as a relative of Coelophysis. This would mean that Silesaurus and Eucoelophysis will be assigned to Dinosauria incertae sedis, but they are probably basal plant-eating dinosaurs, once again reviving Phytodinosauria, as suggested by Dzik (2003).

Dzik, J. 2003. A beaked herbivorous archosaur with dinosaur affinities from the early Late Triassic of Poland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3):556-574.

R. B. Irmis, S. J. Nesbitt, and W. G. Parker, 2005. A critical review of the Triassic North American dinosaur record. In A. W. A. Kellner, D. D. R. Henriques, & T. Rodrigues (eds.), II Congresso Latino-Americano de Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Boletim de Resumos. Museum Nacional/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro 139. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.194.116.63 (talk) 02:54, 12 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, this situation would revive the concept, but not the name Phytodinosauria. Almost all current definitions have Dinosauria in a node-stem triplet, where Saurischia = "closer to birds than to Triceratops" and Ornithiscia = "closer to Triceratops than to birds". If sauropodomorphs and ornithischians form a group exclusive of saurischians, this would simply force Sauropodomorpha into Ornithischia, and Saurischia would become synonymous with Theropoda (which is defined as "closer to birds than to sauropods"). It would also probably have the effect of dragging a few "lagosuchians" into Saurischia, and vindicating the 1980s versions of Bob Bakker and Greg Paul ;)Dinoguy2 04:14, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Silesaurus, a dinosaur-like predentate
Silesaurus was recovered by Ezcurra (2006) in a position next to a clade containing Eucoelophysis and Dinosauria. This analysis shows that Eucoelophysis and Silesaurus are pre-dinosaur ornithodirans. This analysis unveils the early evolution of dinosaurs and their relatives. Therefore, the Silesaurus page is to be updated.

Ezcurra, M. D., 2006, A review of the systematic position of the dinosauriform archosaur Eucoelophysis baldwini Sullivan & Lucas, 1999 from the Upper Triassic of New Mexico: Geodiversitas, v. 28, n. 4, p. 649-684. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.194.116.63 (talk) 01:51, 11 January 2007 (UTC).