Neotheropoda represents the main evolutionary radiation of predatory dinosaurs and its oldest records come from Upper Triassic rocks (c. 219 Mya). The Early Jurassic record of Neotheropoda is taxonomically richer and geographically more widespread than that of the Late Triassic. The Lower Jurassic (upper Hettangian–lower Sinemurian) rocks of central England have yielded three neotheropod specimens that have been assigned to two species within the genus Sarcosaurus, S. woodi (type species) and S. andrewsi. These species have received little attention in discussions of the early evolution of Neotheropoda and recently have been considered as nomina dubia. Here, we provide a detailed redescription of one of these specimens (WARMS G667–690) and reassess the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the genus Sarcosaurus. We propose that the three neotheropod specimens from the Early Jurassic of central England represent a single valid species, S. woodi. The second species of the genus, ‘S. andrewsi’, is a subjective junior synonym of the former. A quantitative phylogenetic analysis of early theropods recovered S. woodi as one of the closest sister-taxa to Averostra and provides new information on the sequence of character state transformations in the lead up to the phylogenetic split between Ceratosauria and Tetanurae.

中文翻译：

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英格兰中部侏罗纪早期（Hettangian–Sinemurian）的新节肢动物属Sarcosaurus的修订版

Neotheropoda代表掠夺恐龙和其最久的记录的主辐射演化来自上三叠岩石（Ç。219妙）。与三叠纪晚期相比，Neotheropoda的侏罗纪早期记录在分类学上更丰富，地理上也更广泛。下游侏罗纪（上Hettangian-降低辛涅缪尔）岩石英国中央的已经产生了3个neotheropod标本已被分配到两个物种属内肉龙属，S. woodi（类型物种）和S. andrewsi。这些物种在关于Neotheropoda的早期进化的讨论中很少受到关注，最近被认为是nomina dubia。。在这里，我们提供这些样本中的一个的详细重述（温暖G667-690），并重新评估分类和属的亲缘关系肉龙属。我们建议，来自英格兰中部侏罗纪早期的三个新兽脚类动物标本代表一个有效物种，S。woodi。属的第二种“ S. andrewsi ”是前者的主观初级同义词。早期节肢动物的定量系统发育分析将S. woodi作为最接近Avesrostra的姊妹分类单元之一进行了恢复，并提供了有关特征状态转化序列的新信息，该序列导致了角鳞龙和破伤风之间的系统发育。