Spinostropheus

Taxobox
name = "Spinostropheus"
fossil_range = Early Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo=Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Theropoda
infraordo = Ceratosauria
superfamilia = Abelisauroidea
genus = "Spinostropheus"
genus_authority=Sereno "et al." 2002
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"S. gautieri" (Lapparent, 1960 [originally "Elaphrosaurus gautieri"] ) (type)

"Spinostropheus" is a genus of small ceratosaurian dinosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period of Niger. Originally thought to be a species of the closely related "Elaphrosaurus", subsequent studies (Sereno "et al." 2002) have found that it is more closely related to the abelisaurs.

References

* Lapparent (1960). "Les dinosauriens du 'Continental intercalaire' du Sahara central." "Mem. Soc. Geol. France." 88A:1-57.
* Sereno, Conrad and Wilson (2002). "Abelisaurid theropods from Africa: Phylogenetic and biogeographic implications." "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology." 22(3):106A.