A paraphyletic 'Silesauridae' as an alternative hypothesis for the initial radiation of ornithischian dinosaurs.

ABSTRACT: Whereas ornithischian dinosaurs are well known from Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits, deciphering the origin and early evolution of the group remains one of the hardest challenges for palaeontologists. So far, there are no unequivocal records of ornithischians from Triassic beds. Here, we present an alternative evolutionary hypothesis that suggests consideration of traditional 'silesaurids' as a group of low-diversity clades representing a stem group leading to core ornithischians (i.e. unambiguous ornithischians, such as Heterodontosaurus tucki). This is particularly interesting because it fills most of the ghost lineages that emerge from the Triassic. Following the present hypothesis, the lineage that encompasses the Jurassic ornithischians evolved from 'silesaurids' during the Mi

SUBMITTER: Muller RT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7480155 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature