Message #194910

[Moonfire]

Species and taxonomy

It is unclear how many species of Allosaurus there were. Seven species have been considered potentially valid since 1988 (A. amplexus,[8] A. atrox,[8] A. europaeus,[60] the type species A. fragilis,[13] the as-yet not formally described "A. jimmadseni",[6] A. maximus,[46] and A. tendagurensis[13]), although only a fraction are usually considered valid at any given time. Additionally, there are at least ten dubious or undescribed species that have been assigned to Allosaurus over the years, along with the species belonging to genera now sunk into Allosaurus. In the most recent review of basal tetanuran theropods, only A. fragilis (including A. amplexus and A. atrox as synonyms), "A. jimmadseni" (as an unnamed species), and A. tendagurensis were accepted as potentially valid species, with A. europaeus not yet proposed and A. maximus assigned to Saurophaganax.[13]