Carnosauria

Carnosauria is a sub-group of Theropoda, a group of predatory dinosaurs. The best known dinosaur in this group is Allosaurus. Recently, scientists have discovered some very large carnosaurians in the allosaurid group such as Carcharodontosaurus , Giganotosaurus and Tyrannotitan which may have grown to larger sizes than Tyrannosaurus.

Their defining characterisitics include large eyes, a long narrow skull and modifications of the legs and pelvis such as the thigh (femur) being longer than the shin (tibia).

Carnosauria has traditionally been used as a dumping ground for all large theropods, but analysis in the 1980s and 1990s revealed that other than size, the group shared very few characteristics. Most former carnosaurs were reclassified as more primitive theropods; or were placed in Coelurosauria if they were more closely related to birds, like the tyrannosaurids.

The first dinosaur ever described, Megalosaurus was also thought to belong here, but there is some controversy as to whether Megalosaurus is actually a species or a mistaken collection of bones from a variety of carnosaurs.