Allosaurids were a family of medium to large sized carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. They lived during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods. Members included Saurophaganax, Allosaurus, and "Wyomingraptor". Some key evolutionary novelties of Allosaurids are the evenly round face, the medially flattened tip of the lower jaw, and the upper tooth sockets that extend all the way to the back of the face, expandable skill, sleek but strong body design, long, compact legs, stiffened tails, and an expanded "boot" at the end of the pubis.

The exact number of genera that can be included here is very debatable and most of the uppper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Carnosaurs are somewhat closely related to Allosaurus. Whatever the case, Allosaurids seemed to be the most sucessful hunters of their times, outnumbering and outgrowing the Megalosauridae, Sinraptoridea and Ceratosauridae that they competed with for prey. Of those three, only the latter would survive the extinctions at the end of the Jurassic along with Allosaurus, and the Ceraotsaurs and Allosaurs quickly went seperate ways, with Allosaurus dominating Laurasia and Ceratosaurus decendants spreading over Gonwana. The Allosaurs would eventually give rise to Carnosaurs like Carchardontosaurus, but would be replaced by the aves decended Tyrannosauridae in the Late Cretaceous.

Carnosaurs

Allosauridae | Allosauridae | Allosauridae | Allosauridae | Allosaurider