Belongs within: Neotheropoda.
The Ceratosauria are a relatively basal clade of theropods containing all species more closely related to Ceratosaurus than to birds. Though Ceratosaurus itself came from the Jurassic of North America, the ceratosaurians were a primarily Gondwanan clade, with representatives from South America, Africa and India. As well as larger forms such as Ceratosaurus and the Abelisauridae, the ceratosaurs also included smaller forms such as Elaphrosaurus and the Noasauridae. The Chinese Limusaurus inextricabilis and the African Elaphrosaurus are Late Jurassic cursorial forms that have been described as convergent to the later Ornithomimosauria. Deltadromeus agilis is a relatively large theropod (about eight metres in length) known from the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem beds of northern Africa which may be a basal ceratosaur though some authors have placed it in the ceratosaur sister-clade Tetanurae.
<==Ceratosauria [Neoceratosauria] |--Spinostropheus gautieriXC09, P10 |--Deltadromeus Sereno, Duthiel et al. 1996XC09, HMC04 | `--D. agilis Sereno, Duthiel et al. 1996HMC04 |--+--Limusaurus Xu, Clark et al. 2009XC09 | | `--*L. inextricabilis Xu, Clark et al. 2009XC09 | `--Elaphrosaurus Janensch 1920TR04 | |--E. bambergi Janensch 1920TR04 | |--E. gautieri Lapparent 1960 (n. d.)MKC04 | `--E. iguidiensis Lapparent 1960 (n. d.)MKC04 `--CeratosauroideaWS03 |--CeratosauridaeP88 | |--Sarcosaurus Andrews 1921P88 | | |--S. andrewsi Huene 1932TR04 | | `--S. woodi Andrews 1921TR04 | `--Ceratosaurus Marsh 1884TR04 | |--C. dentisulcatus Madsen & Welles 2000TR04 | |--C. magnicornis Madsen & Welles 2000TR04 | |--C. merianiD07 | |--C. nasicornis Marsh 1884TR04 | `--C. roechlingi Janensch 1925 (n. d.)TR04 `--Abelisauroidea [Abelisauria]XC09 | i. s.: Genusaurus Accarie, Beaudoin et al. 1995WS03, TR04 | `--G. sisteronis Accarie, Beaudoin et al. 1995TR04 | Velocisaurus Bonaparte 1991F12, TR04 [Velocisauridae] | `--V. unicus Bonaparte 1991TR04 | Berberosaurus liassicusF12 |--Noasauridae [Noasaurinae]XC09 | |--Noasaurus Bonaparte & Powell 1980TR04 | | `--N. leali Bonaparte & Powell 1980TR04 | |--Masiakasaurus Sampson, Carrano & Forster 2001TR04 | | `--*M. knopfleri Sampson, Carrano & Forster 2001SCF01 | `--Ligabueino Bonaparte 1996P10, TR04 | `--L. andesi Bonaparte 1996TR04 `--Abelisauridae [Abelisaurinae]XC09 | i. s.: Tarascosaurus Le Loeuff & Buffetaut 1991APS03, TR04 | `--T. salluvicus Le Loeuff & Buffetaut 1991TR04 | Indosuchus Huene & Matley 1933WS03 | `--*I. raptorius Huene & Matley 1933WS03 | Indosaurus Huene & Matley 1933WS03 | `--*I. matleyi Huene & Matley 1933WS03 | Xenotarsosaurus Martínez, Gimenez et al. 1986WS03, TR04 | `--X. bonapartei Martínez, Gimenez et al. 1986TR04 | Majungasaurus Lavocat 1955WS03, TR04 | `--M. crenatissimus (Depéret 1896) [=Megalosaurus crenatissimus]TR04 | Rugops Sereno, Wilson & Conrad 2004XC09, D07 | `--R. primusD07 | Ekrixinatosaurus novasiXC09, F12 | Aucasaurus Coria, Chiappe & Dingus 2002XC09, TR04 | `--A. garridoi Coria, Chiappe & Dingus 2002TR04 [=Abelisaurus garridoiP10] | Genyodectes serus Woodward 1901 (n. d.)P88, TR04 | Kryptops palaiosP10, F12 | Pycnonemosaurus nevesiP10 | Skorpiovenator bustingorryiP10 |--Ilokelesia Coria & Salgado 1998TR04 | `--I. aguadagrandensis Coria & Salgado 1998TR04 `--+--Abelisaurus Bonaparte & Novas 1985TR04 | `--A. comahuensis Bonaparte & Novas 1985TR04 `--CarnotaurinaeTR04 |--Rajasaurus Wilson, Sereno et al. 2003WS03 | `--*R. narmadensis Wilson, Sereno et al. 2003WS03 `--+--Majungatholus Sues & Taquet 1979TR04 | `--M. atopus Sues & Taquet 1979TR04 `--Carnotaurus Bonaparte 1985TR04 `--C. sastrei Bonaparte 1985TR04 Ceratosauria incertae sedis: Laevisuchus Huene 1932TR04 `--*L. indicus Huene 1932WS03, TR04 Coeluroides Huene & Matley 1933TR04, WS03 `--*C. largus Huene 1932 (n. d.)WS03, TR04 Dryptosauroides Huene & Matley 1933TR04, WS03 `--*D. grandis Huene 1932 (n. d.)WS03, TR04 Halticosaurus [Halticosauridae]TR04 `--H. longotarsus Huene 1907-1908 (n. d.)TR04 Jubbulpuria Huene & Matley 1933TR04, WS03 `--*J. tenuis Huene & Matley 1933 (n. d.)WS03 ‘Labrosaurus’ stechowi Janensch 1925 (n. d.)TR04 ‘Labrosaurus’ sulcatus Marsh 1896 (n. d.)TR04 Ornithomimoides Huene & Matley 1933TR04, WS03 |--O. barasimlensis Huene & Matley 1933 (n. d.)TR04 `--O. mobilis Huene & Matley 1933 (n. d.)TR04 Orthogoniosaurus matleyi Das-Gupta 1930 (n. d.)TR04 Pterospondylus trielbae Jaekel 1913-1914 (n. d.)TR04 Tanystrosuchus Kuhn 1963 (n. d.)TR04 `--*T. posthumus (Huene 1907–1908) (n. d.) [=Tanystrophaeus posthumus]TR04 Tanystrophaeus willistoni Cope 1887 (n. d.)TR04
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[APS03] Allain, R., & X. Pereda Suberbiola. 2003. Dinosaurs of France. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2 (1): 27–44.
[D07] Dixon, D. 2007. The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Hermes House: London.
[F12] Fanti, F. 2012. Cretaceous continental bridges, insularity, and vicariance in the Southern Hemisphere: which route did the dinosaurs take? In: Talent, J. A. (ed.) Earth and Life: Global biodiversity, extinction intervals and biogeographic perturbations through time pp. 883–911. Springer.
[HMC04] Holtz, T. R., Jr, R. E. Molnar & P. J. Currie. 2004. Basal Tetanurae. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2nd ed. pp. 71–110. University of California Press: Berkeley.
[MKC04] Makovicky, P. J., Y. Kobayashi & P. J. Currie. 2004. Ornithomimosauria. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2nd ed. pp. 137–150. University of California Press: Berkeley.
[P88] Paul, G. S. 1988. Predatory Dinosaurs of the World: A Complete Illustrated Guide. Simon & Schuster: New York.
[P10] Paul, G. S. 2010. Dinosaurs: A Field Guide. A & C Black.
[SCF01] Sampson, S. D., M. T. Carrano & C. A. Forster. 2001. A bizarre predatory dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Nature 409: 504–506.
[TR04] Tykoski, R. S., & T. Rowe. 2004. Ceratosauria. In: Weishampel, D. B., P. Dodson & H. Osmólska (eds) The Dinosauria 2nd ed. pp. 47–70. University of California Press: Berkeley.
[WS03] Wilson, J. A., P. C. Sereno, S. Srivastava, D. K. Bhatt, A. Khosla & A. Sahni. 2003. A new abelisaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Lameta Formation (Cretaceous, Maastrichtian) of India. Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan 31 (1): 1–42.
[XC09] Xu, X., J. M. Clark, J. Mo, J. Choiniere, C. A. Forster, G. M. Erickson, D. W. E. Hone, C. Sullivan, D. A. Eberth, S. Nesbitt, Q. Zhao, R. Hernandez, C.-K. Jia, F.-L. Han & Y. Guo. 2009. A Jurassic ceratosaur from China helps clarify avian digital homologies. Nature 459: 940–944.