| Dryosauridae Temporal range: Middle Jurassic – Early Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
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| Dysalotosaurus skeletal mount in Berlin | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | † Ornithischia |
| Clade: | † Ornithopoda |
| Clade: | † Iguanodontia |
| Clade: | † Dryomorpha |
| Family: | † Dryosauridae Milner & Norman, 1984 [1] |
| Subgroups | |
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Dryosauridae was a family of primitive iguanodonts, first proposed by Milner & Norman in 1984. They are known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous rocks of Africa, Europe, and North America. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Dryosauridae was first proposed in 1984 by British paleontologists Andrew R. Milner and David B. Norman, as a family to unite the early ornithopods Dryosaurus , Valdosaurus , and possibly Parksosaurus and Mochlodon . Milner and Norman separated these taxa from the family Hypsilophodontidae as they showed greater similarity with hadrosaurids and iguanodontids. [1] The spelling had previously been used as a typographical error by Deraniyagala in 1939 for Dyrosauridae. [6]
Until recently, many dryosaurids have been regarded as dubious ( Callovosaurus and Kangnasaurus ) or as species of the type member, Dryosaurus ( Dysalotosaurus , Elrhazosaurus and Valdosaurus ). However, more recent studies redescribe these genera as valid. [4] [5] [7] [8] [9] Under the Phylocode, Madzia et al. (2021) formally defined Dryosauridae as "the largest clade containing Dryosaurus altus but not Iguanodon bernissartensis ." [10] The cladogram below follows their chosen reference phylogeny, taken from the description of Orthomerus dolloi . [11]