Early theropod dinosaurs from Europe: implications for the interrelationships of early theropods and the origin of Averostra

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Oliver Rauhut, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Geology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 498194151

Theropods are one of the main lineage of dinosaurs and the only one to survive to the present day. Whereas the later Mesozoic evolution of theropods and especially the origin of birds has been the focus of intensive research in recent decades, the early evolution of the clade has received comparatively less attention. Important questions in the early evolution of theropods include whether there was a first important radiation of coelophysoids, which then accounted for the vast majority of theropods in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, or if there already was a variety of both coelophyoids and stem-line representatives of averostrans during these times, with the latter taking over completely towards the MIddle Jurassic, and what the role of the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event and the Pliensbachian-Toarcian extinction event for theropod evolution was. Several theropod taxa are known from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of Europe, but neither their primary taxonomic diversity nor their significance for our understanding of early theropod evolution has been fully explored yet. Here, we will focus on three rather well-represented theropod taxa from the Late Triassic/Early Jurassic of Europe, the genera Procompsognathus, Liliensternus and Dracoraptor, plus so far undescribed theropod material from the Late Triassic of Bavaria, to establish theropod diversity in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic in this continent and to gain better insights into the early evolution of the group. We will use modern techniques (CT-scanning ) for novel insights into the anatomy of these animals and use phylogenetic analysis and phylogeny-based macroevolutionary analyses (analysis of evolutionary rates and distribution of homoplasy, disparity analysis) to gain a better understanding of the evolutionary dynamics in early theropods and the role of extinction events/radiations in their early evolution. Our results will thus provide important new insights into the early evolution of theropod dinosaurs and the origin of their most important subclade, the Averostra.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants