Wednesday, August 31, 2016

The Monster of Minden published at last

Those of you who frequented the Dinosaur Mailing List in the early 2000s might remember references to a supposedly gigantic German theropod- Das Monster von Minden.  After a few news stories, it was quickly forgotten until an abstract published last year (Rauhut et al., 2015) confirmed it as a new megalosaurid.  As of today it has been officially published and described as Wiehenvenator albati (Rauhut et al., 2016). 

Skull of Wiehenvenator albati holotype (WMN P27275, P27504, P27457, P27477, P27470, P27461, P27462 and P27466), scale equals 100 mm (after Rauhut et al., 2016).
The description is generally excellent, with multiple colored high resolution views of each element.  Anatomically, Weihenvenator is basically Torvosaurus, so is not that intriguing.  Rauhut et al. are the first I know to alter Carrano et al.'s basal tetanurine analysis however- "Several character definitions of the original list of Carrano et al. (2012), especially of cranial characters, were revised and taxa recoded correspondingly." "A complete documentation of the changes in character definition and character codings will be presented elsewhere (Rauhut and Pol, in prep.)."  So that's interesting.  They also "added the basal tyrannosaur Guanlong to the matrix in order to improve taxon and character sampling in coelurosaurs", which is good but not nearly enough to fix that issue.  They also deleted "the Chinese theropod Leshansaurus, as neither Carrano et al. (2012) nor we studied this taxon personally, and the published description (Li et al., 2009) is in Chinese, so codings could only be based on the sparse illustrations."  The illustrations are actually rather good, and the Chinese can be translated via Google Translate, so I'd argue against this.  In any case, their resulting tree matches Carrano et al.'s except Cryolophosaurus and Sinosaurus are outside Neotheropoda (their Averostra), Chuandongocoelurus is in a trichotomy with ceratosaurs and tetanurines, and Monolophosaurus is closer to megalosaurians than piatnitzkysaurids, all in Megalosauroidea.  Several taxa later added to the Carrano et al. matrix are not analyzed (e.g. Chilesaurus, Sciurumimus), which I think would be important when considering basal tetanurine phylogeny.  Rauhut was an author of Sciurumimus after all.  Finally, their informal supertree in figure 26 list "Anchiornithosaurs" in quote marks as a group sister to Avialae, which is... interesting.

Phylogeny found by Rauhut et al. (2016) after a posteriori exclusion of Streptospondylus using a modified version of Carrano et al.'s basal tetanurine matrix (modified after Rauhut et al., 2016).
But what about its size?  That was the big thing about the Minden Monster back in the day, with some paleontologists estimating its length as high as ~15 m (http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/faq/s-size/predator/index.html#9).  Back in 2001 I estimated its size as ~7-8 m (http://dml.cmnh.org/2003Jul/msg00355.html) based on maxillary and fibular dimensions.  Rauhut et al. don't do a convincing job of calculating this.  They say "the maxilla is c. 82% of the size of that of Torvosaurus gurneyi, which was estimated to be approximately the size of Gorgosaurus or Daspletosaurus (c. 10 m in length and 4 to 5 tons in weight) by Hendrickx and Mateus (2014a)."  So that'd be ~8 meters long.  They then say "On the other hand, the caudal vertebrae are closely comparable in size to elements from a similar position in Torvosaurus tanneri, and the fibulae are even slightly longer than those referred to the latter taxon (Britt, 1991); this taxon was estimated to be approximately 9 m in body length by Britt (1991). Thus, Wiehenvenator is one of the largest theropods found so far in Europe and might only have been slightly smaller than Torvosaurus gurneyi."  Except that there are multiple Torvosaurus individuals present in the collection described by Britt, who never says what his ~9 meter estimate is based on.  If you use the scale bar on their skeletal reconstruction, Wiehenvenator is ~8.3 m long.  So good job me thirteen years ago.

References- Rauhut, Hübner and Lanser, 2015. A new theropod dinosaur from the late Middle Jurassic of Germany and theropod faunal turnover during the Jurassic. Libro de resúmenes del V Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología de Vertebrados. 62.

Rauhut, Hübner and Lanser, 2016. A new megalosaurid theropod dinosaur from the late Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of north-western Germany: Implications for theropod evolution and faunal turnover in the Jurassic. Palaeontologia Electronica. 19.2.26A, 1-65.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Is Gualicho Aoniraptor?

A very cool theropod was published today- Gualicho shinyae (Apesteguia et al., 2016).  It's a large taxon from the Huincul Formation of Argentina, notable for having tiny, didactyl arms and generally resembling Deltadromeus.  The authors propose both are related to megaraptorans instead of ceratosaurs... and wait, didn't we just have this situation (Motta et al., 2016)?  I might as well be the first person* to propose this seemingly obvious synonymy- Gualicho is the same taxon as the recently named Aoniraptor.  Both are from the same formation, of similar size (mid caudals ~87 vs. 83 mm), and Gualicho has two diagnostic characters noted for Aoniraptor- "anterior mid-caudal vertebrae with fan-shaped prezygapophyses lacking a discernible articular surface for contacting the postzygapophyses; presence of a blunt and thick process on the lateral surface of the prezygapophyses of anterior midcaudal vertebrae", and might have the third- "mid-posterior caudals with a pair of nonarticular flat surfaces located on the posterodorsal corner of the centrum."  As Aoniraptor was named first (June 16th vs. July 13th), it has precedent over Gualicho.  Edit #2: As Brad McFeeters notes in a comment below, the volume Aoniraptor was named in has yet to be physically published and does not contain a ZooBank registration, thus Gualicho has precedent.

*Edit: After posting this, I learned both Andrea Cau (here) and Brad McFeeters (on Facebook) independently came to the same conclusion.  Guess it really was an obvious synonymy. ;)

I'm skeptical that these and Deltadromeus belong in Tetanurae, as it only takes 4 steps to move them to Ceratosauria in Apesteguia et al.'s version of Carrano's tetanurine analysis, and Deltadromeus wasn't added to their version of Novas' tetanurine analysis which also lacks any ceratosaurs except the outgroup Ceratosaurus.  They note "Gualicho does exhibit some apparent ceratosaurian synapomorphies, most notably a robust MT III with posteriorly expanded proximal articulation and a flange-like m. iliofibularis tubercle."  It would have been interesting to run them in a ceratosaur analysis.

 
Holotypes of Gualicho shinyae (MPCN PV 0001; top) and Aoniraptor libertatum (MPCA-Pv 804; bottom) in posterior (E), anterior (F), left lateral (G) and dorsal (H) views.  Modified from Apesteguia et al. (2016) and Motta et al. (2016).

 Wonder where they go in the Lori analysis....

References- Apesteguía, Smith, Juárez Valieri and Makovicky, 2016. An unusual new theropod with a didactyl manus from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. PLoS ONE. 11(7), e0157793.

Motta, Aranciaga Rolando, Rozadilla, Agnolin, Chimento, Brisson Egli and Novas, 2016. New theropod fauna from the Upper Cretaceous (Huincul Formtation) of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. In Khosla and Lucas (eds.). Cretaceous period: Biotic diversity and biogeography. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 71, 231-253.


Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Is Lagerpeton a proterochampsian? The Dromomeron angle

Sorry for the lack of posts (or Database updates) lately, as I've been working with Scott Hartman to add Lori to the coelurosaur matrix and finalizing that study.  But I started writing this as a DML reply and figured why not make it a post instead...

Novas and Agnolin (2015) have an abstract on Lagerpeton that proposes it is actually a proterochampsian sister to Tropidosuchus.  If true, this would be a rare time David Peters got something right, as he had this idea back in 2011- https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/what-is-lagerpeton-the-heretical-view/ .  I hope Novas and Agnolin credit him if they write a paper on this.

However, something not addressed by Novas and Agnolin is how Dromomeron relates.  According to Nesbitt (2011), Tropidosuchus lacks all lagerpetonid characters shared by Lagerpeton and Dromomeron- Anterolateral tuber of the proximal portion of the femur absent, the anterolateral face is flat (302-1), Femoral head hook shaped in medial and lateral views (306-1), Ventral emargination present on anterolateral side of the femoral head (310-1), Crista tibiofibularis larger than the medial condyle (326-1), Dorsally expanded process on the posterolateral portion of the tibial facet of the astragalus expanded into a distinct, raised process (5 posterior ascending process of Sereno and Arcucci, 1994a) (355-1), Concave articular surface for the fibula on the calcaneum (378-2).  Of the proterochampsian characters noted by Novas and Agnolin as present in Lagerpeton, Dromomeron lacks two- femoral 4th trochanter proximodistally expanded; caudal surface of distal tibia with a middle tubercle surrounded by two shallow concavities; but has one- astragalus with anteromedial corner acute.  Others are unknown since Dromomeron is so fragmentary, but at least "elongate and compact metatarsus with metatarsal V reduced and devoid of phalanges" would be expected in a taxon close to Marasuchus (which has the conditions), so that works for either placement of Lagerpeton.  Then there are the dinosauriform-like characters of Lagerpeton scored by Nesbitt as absent in Tropidosuchus- Straight cnemial crest (328-1); Longest metatarsal longer than 50% of tibial length (383-1); Metatarsal V "hooked" proximal end absent, and articular face for distal tarsal 4 subparallel to shaft axis (398- 1).  And the archosaurian characters of Lagerpeton scored as absent in Tropidosuchus- Articular surfaces for fibula and distal tarsal IV on the calcaneum continuous (380-1), Anteromedial tuber of the proximal portion of the femur present (300-1), Tibial facet of the astragalus divided into posteromedial and anterolateral basins (366-1).


Phylogeny of eucrocopodans recovered by Ezcurra (2016), with Novas and Agnolin's (2015) proposed reidentification of Lagerpeton indicated in red (modified from Ezcurra, 2016).

Taking all of this into account (with the caveats that I haven't checked the accuracy of any characters except the proterochampsian states of Dromomeron, and that this only uses unambiguous characters listed by Nesbitt), Novas and Agnolin have ten characters that might need to converge if Lagerpeton is a dinosauriform relative, but there are nine characters that might need to converge if Lagerpeton is a proterochampsian (the seven from Nesbitt listed here plus two listed by Novas and Agnolin).  So that's one step in favor of a proterochampsian identity.  But if Dromomeron is a proterochampsian too, that adds three more steps (the two listed above plus dinosauromorph character 313 of Nesbitt that is present in Dromomeron but unknown in Lagerpeton).  Thus dinosauriform-relative Lagerpeton is two steps shorter.  And if Dromomeron is a dinosauriform relative but Lagerpeton is not, that adds five steps (the six lagerpetonid characters that would need to be convergent minus the proterochampsian-like acute astragalar corner).

So basically, ignoring Dromomeron might make proterochampsian Lagerpeton a slightly better option but a proterochampsian Dromomeron turns those odds around, and a proterochampsian Lagerpeton but a dinosauriform-relative Dromomeron is even worse.  So pending further analysis, I favor the traditional view (note Ezcurra's huge 2016 archosauromorph analysis which sampled proterochampsian diversity also recovered this topology).  If Lagerpeton is a proterochampsian, then Lagerpetonidae is a junior synonym of Proterochampsia definition-wise (and Proterochampsidae ICZN-wise).  However, Novas and Agnolin are wrong in claiming "The exclusion of Lagerpeton from the dinosaur lineage results in the removal of the clade Dinosauromorpha, which was originally conceived to encompass Lagerpeton plus Dinosauriformes."  The only proposed definition of Dinosauromorpha that mentions Lagerpeton is one of Sereno's (1991) which is "Lagerpeton chanarensis, Lagosuchus talampayensis, Pseudolagosuchus major, Dinosauria (inc. Aves), and all descendants of their common ancestor."  Following this definition, Dinosauromorpha merely moves stem-ward to be the Proterochampsia+Archosauria clade which is AFAIK otherwise unnamed.  The other proposed definitions are all basically "taxa closer to dinosaurs than pterosaurs", so Dinosauromorpha would stay where it is even if Lagerpeton isn't a member.

References- Sereno, 1991. Basal archosaurs: Phylogenetic relationships and functional implications. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir. 2, 1 53 pp

Nesbitt, 2011. The early evolution of archosaurs: Relationships and the origin of major clades. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 352, 292 pp.

Novas and Agnolin, 2015. Lagerpeton chanarensis Romer (Archosauriformes): A derived proterochampsian from the Middle Triassic of NW Argentina. Libro de resúmenes del V Congreso Latinoamericano de Paleontología de Vertebrados. 48.

Ezcurra, 2016. The phylogenetic relationships of basal archosauromorphs, with an emphasis on the systematics of proterosuchian archosauriforms. PeerJ. 4:e1778.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Database update plus Predatory Dinosaurs of the World with phylogenetic nomenclature

Hey fellow 80s kids!  Like me, you probably grew up with Paul's (1988) Predatory Dinosaurs of the World as your first serious non-technical theropod source, along with The Dinosauria.  After raking Peters' horrific theropod phylogeny over the coals and applying current phylogenetic nomenclature for fun, I wondered how the most famous non-technical topology of our time would fare.  So here's Paul's phylogeny from his influential book using the taxonomy from The Theropod Database.  Note a number of his named groups are paraphyletic in his topology (based on overleaf 10-1, with additional details based on his comments in the taxonomic section).  Only species with entries were included.

Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauriformes

|*-Saltopus
|--Lagerpetonidae
|  |--Lagosuchus (inc. Marasuchus)
|  |--Lewisuchus

|  `--Lagerpeton
`--Herrerasauridae

   |--Staurikosaurus
   `--+--Ischisaurus
      `--+--Herrerasauria
         |  |?*Alwalkeria
         |  |?-Protoavis
         |  |--Freguellisaurus
         |  `--+--Aliwalia
         |     `--Herrerasaurus
         `--Avepoda
            |--Procompsognathus
            `--Megalosauria
               |--Spinosauroidea (= Coelophysoidea, Spinosauridae)
               |  |?-Elaphrosaurus
               |  |--Coelophysidae
               |  |  Coelophysis
               |  |  |--rhodesiensis
               |  |  `--bauri
               |  `--Dilophosauridae
               |     |--Liliensternus
               |     `--+--Dilophosaurus
               |        `--+--Baryonychinae
               |           |  Baryonyx
               |           `--Spinosaurinae
               |              Spinosaurus
               `--Neotheropoda (= Averostra, Neoceratosauria, Abelisauroidea, Torvosauridae)
                  |--Ceratosauria (= Ceratosauridae)
                  |  |--Sarcosaurus
                  |  `--Ceratosaurus
                  |     |?-ingens
                  |     `--nasicornis
                  `--Tetanurae (= Abelisauridae, Orionides)
                     |--Megalosauroidea (= Megalosauridae)
                     |  |--+--Megalosaurus
                     |  |  |--Torvosaurus 
                     |  |  `--Poekilopleuron
                     |  `--Abelisauria
                     |     |?-Noasauridae
                     |     |  Noasaurus
                     |     |--Carnotaurinae
                     |     |  Carnotaurus
                     |     `--Abelisaurinae
                     |        Abelisaurus
                     `--+--Eustreptospondylinae
                        |  Eustreptospondylus (inc. Streptospondylus)
                        `--+--Piatnitzkysauridae
                           |  Piatnitzkysaurus
                           `--+--Gasosaurus
                              `--+--Marshosaurus
                                 `--Allosauroidea
                                    |--Metriacanthosauridae (= Sinraptoridae)
                                    |  |--Yangchuanosaurus (inc. Metriacanthosaurus? sp.)
                                    |  `--Metriacanthosaurus (assuming Sinraptor)
                                    `--Avetheropoda (= Neotetanurae, Allosauria, Tyrannoraptora)
                                       |*-Dryptosaurus
                                       |--Compsognathidae
                                       |  Compsognathus
                                       |--Tyrannosauroidea (= Carnosauria)
                                       |  |--Coeluridae
                                       |  |  |--Aristosuchus
                                       |  |  `--Coelurus
                                       |  |--Proceratosauridae
                                       |  |  |--+--Proceratosaurus
                                       |  |  |  `--Pivetaeusaurus 
                                       |  |  |--Rapator
                                       |  |  `--Ornitholestes
                                       |  `--+--Allosauridae
                                       |     |  Allosaurus fragilis (inc. A. atrox, A. amplexus)
                                       |     `--Carcharodontosauridae (= Carcharodontosauria)
                                       |        |--+--Chilantaisaurus
                                       |        |  `--Shaochilong
                                       |        `--+--+--Acrocanthosaurus
                                       |           |  `--Becklespinax
                                       |           `--+--Indosaurus
                                       |              `--+--Labocania
                                       |                 |--Erectopus
                                       |                 |--Carcharodontosaurus
                                       |                 |--Bahariasaurus
                                       |                 `--+--Aublysodontinae
                                       |                    |  |--Aublysodon
                                       |                    |  |--Shanshanosaurus
                                       |                    |  `--Stygivenator
                                       |                    `--+--Indosuchus
                                       |                       `--+--Alioramini
                                       |                          |  Alioramus
                                       |                          `--Tyrannosauridae
                                       |                             |--Albertosaurinae
                                       |                             |  |--Alectrosaurus
                                       |                             |  `--+*-Albertosaurus
                                       |                             |     |--Nanotyrannus
                                       |                             |     `--+--Gorgosaurus
                                       |                             |        `--+--arctunguis
                                       |                             |           `--Dinotyrannus
                                       |                             `--Tyrannosaurinae
                                       |                                |--Daspletosaurus
                                       |                                `--+--Tarbosaurus
                                       |                                   `--Tyrannosaurus
                                       `--Coelurosauria (= Aviremigia, Ornithes)
                                          |--Archaeopterygidae (= Saurornithes)
                                          |  Archaeopteryx
                                          `--Eudromaeosauria
                                             |--Dromaeosauridae (= Dromaeosaurinae)
                                             |  |--Dromaeosaurus
                                             |  `?-Adasaurus
                                             `--Eumaniraptora (= Pennaraptora, Averaptora)
                                                |--Deinonychosauria (= Velociraptorinae)
                                                |  |--Deinonychus
                                                |  `--+--Saurornitholestes
                                                |     `--Velociraptor
                                                `--Avialae
                                                   |?-Ornithomimosauria (= Arctometatarsalia)
                                                   |  |--Harpymimus
                                                   |  `--Ornithomiminae
                                                   |     |?-Deinocheiridae
                                                   |     |  Deinocheirus
                                                   |     |--Garudimimus
                                                   |     `--Ornithomimidae
                                                   |        |*-affinis
                                                   |        |*-Archaeornithomimus
                                                   |        `--+--Struthiomimus 
                                                   |           |?-Ornithomimus
                                                   |           |--Dromiceiomimus
                                                   |           |  |--brevitertius
                                                   |           |  `--samueli
                                                   |           `--Gallimimus
                                                   |--Oviraptorosauria (= Caenagnathiformes)
                                                   |  Caenagnathoidea
                                                   |  |--Caenagnathidae
                                                   |  |  |--Microvenator
                                                   |  |  `--+--Caenagnathinae
                                                   |  |     |  Chirostenotes
                                                   |  |     `--Elmisaurinae
                                                   |  |        Elmisaurus
                                                   |  `--Oviraptoridae
                                                   |     |--Oviraptorinae
                                                   |     |  Oviraptor (assuming Citipati)
                                                   |     `--"Ingeniinae"
                                                   |        "Ingenia"
                                                   `--Maniraptora (= Avimimidae, Paraves)
                                                      |--Troodontidae
                                                      |  |--Troodon
                                                      |  |--Saurornithoides
                                                      |  |--Heptasteornis
                                                      |  `?-Bradycneme  
                                                      `--+--Avimimus
                                                         `--Ornithothoraces (= Avebrevicauda, Ornithopectae)
                                                            |--Enantiornithes
                                                            |  Iberomesornis (assuming Enantiornis)
                                                            `--+--Ichthyornithes (= Ambiortiformes)
                                                               |  |--Ambiortus
                                                               |  `--Ichthyornis
                                                               `--+--Gansuiformes
                                                                  |  Gansus
                                                                  `--+--Hesperornithes
                                                                     |  Hesperornis
                                                                     `--Aves

So how does it fare?  Pretty well, though Herrerasauridae, Megalosauria, Spinosauridae and Tyrannosauridae have definitions that fail.  There are some uncertainties based on the unclear position of ornithomimosaurs, and due to the date there are no taxa between Archaeopteryx and ornithothoracines.  But overall, not bad. 

Among the "Theropod Odds and Ends", Taquet's (1984) taxon has yet to be redescribed but seems to be a coelophysoid, "Labrosaurus" ferox is agreed to be an allosaurid/Allosaurus specimen and maybe a portion of the A. fragilis neotype.  (Magnosaurus) nethercombensis is a megalosauroid, possibly afrovenatorine.  (Duriavenator) hesperis is a megalosaurid.  Xuanhanosaurus seems to be a metriacanthosaurid.  Iliosuchus may be a basal tyrannosauroid or other basal coelurosaurian, which is debated for taxa known from far more than only ilia.  Stokesosaurus is universally agreed to be a basal tyrannosauroid.  Finally, Segisaurus is agreed to be a coelophysoid closer to Coelophysis than Dilophosaurus.

Twenty-third (II) and twenty-second (III) dentary tooth of holotype of Segnosaurus galbinensis (IGM 10/80), after Zanno et al. (2016). Note the weird lingual carina (lc).
Oh, and I updated the Database this month, but less than usual due to coding more in the Lori matrix.  Besides the last sauropodomorph entry  (Ignavusaurus ?= Massospondylus), a couple braincases were added to the Bissekty tyrannosauroid(s?) and named Timurlengia.  Wonder where this falls out in the new tyrannosauroid matrix of Brusatte and Carr (2016).  The Pierre Shale hesperornithoids of Manitoba were clarified by Aotsuka and Sato (2016), with the description of a new species.  Segnosaurus' mandible was also redescribed (Zanno et al., 2016), which I hope is the first of many therizinosaurian redescriptions from them.  It's quite an odd specimen, exhibiting a coronoid process like oviraptorosaurs, no posterior surangular ridge or foramen and TRIcarinate posterior dentary teeth.  Yes, unlike (?)any other theropod, Segnosaurus has a lingual carina with serrations (see above).

References- Taquet, 1984. Two new Jurassic specimens of coelurosaurs (Dinosauria). In Hecht, Ostrom, Viohl and Wellnhofer (eds.). The Beginnings of Birds: Proceedings of the International Archaeopteryx Conference, Eichstaett. 229-232.

Paul, 1988. Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. Simon & Schuster. 464 pp.

Aotsuka and Sato, 2016. Hesperornithiformes (Aves: Ornithurae) from the Upper Cretaceous Pierre Shale, southern Manitoba, Canada. Cretaceous Research. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2016.03.003.

Brusatte and Carr, 2016. The phylogeny and evolutionary history of tyrannosauroid dinosaurs. Scientific Reports. 6, 20252.

Zanno, Tsogtbaatar, Chinzorig and Gates, 2016. Specializations of the mandibular anatomy and dentition of Segnosaurus galbinensis (Theropoda: Therizinosauria). PeerJ. 4:e1885.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Peters' theropod craziness

So David Peters, whose analyses I have thoroughly trashed on this blog before, has branched out into theropods.  In my prior foray into his basal dinosaurian phylogeny, I was surprised by how poorly coded (~30% miscoded) taxa were for his tiny and badly formed analysis.  Now that he's trying to interpret MY turf, it's just sad.  Or laughable.  Or laughably sad, take your pick.  Even in the best of circumstances, taking 228 characters designed for amniote phylogeny and coding theropods for them is likely to give you a terrible result.  But add Peters' DGS to the mix, where he takes photos and discovers missing bones in a slab or traces his own outlines, and you have hilarious fiction.  Peters might know pterosaurs, but when he tries tracing theropods, it's obvious he does NOT know theropods.  He mixes bone outlines, identifies random sediment texture or feathers as bones, and based on his results just has no idea how theropods look.  I commented on this on his Archaeornithura skull post last week (see last figure below), but Peters deleted the comment and changed his reconstruction to be wrong in different ways (new ways include that the pubis is the ischium, the ischium has a huge obturator process, the manus has a complete digit, as does the fifth pedal digit(!)).

Reconstructions of Sinosauropteryx prima by me (top), and Peters (bottom), scaled to same femoral length.
As an example, here's Sinosauropteryx as reconstructed by him vs. by me.  Now, Peters is no doubt the more experienced artist, and my reconstruction isn't perfect.  I made it back in 2005, and if I were to redraw it today, I'd give the tibia and fibula less generic shapes (e.g. larger cnemial crest, flatter distal tibia, expanded proximal fibula), orient the humerus to not be in posterior view, and get rid of the post-obturator notch in the ischium, which was later found to be erroneous.  But compare that to Peters' monstrosity.  The squamosal is just a triangular plate, lacking any posterior process so that the quadrate head is impossibly just floating freely posterior to it.  The quadrate has a narrow orbital/pterygoid process unlike anything but derived birds.  There are twenty-five presacral vertebrae unlike (?)all non-maniraptoran avepods, the caudals vary randomly in length by large degrees unlike any theropod, and the chevrons are all short as if it were a derived paravian.  In the pectoral girdle, there's some huge crescent where the sternum would be, but Sinosauropteryx lacks an ossified sternum.  The ilium is just wacky- tiny postacetabular process and concave dorsal margin.  The ischium is a thick blob with nary an obturator process.  Perhaps most sadly, Peters can't even draw the tibia as longer than the femur, which is (?)universal in small theropods, stated even in the crappy original Chinese description and is character 195 in Peters' analysis.

With his reconstructions being more or less fictional animals, it's no surprise the cladograms based on them will be equally unrealistic.  And lo, they are!  For fun, I give his cladogram from March 14th and applied phylogenetic nomenclature to see how it fares.  I listed the assumed position of taxa not yet included, as they are specifiers of various clades.  I also list where family-level taxa would have to be renamed due to ICZN rules.

Theropoda
|--Tawa
`--+--+--Staurikosaurus
   |  `--+--Segisaurus
   |     `--+--Guaibasaurus
   |        `--+--Marasuchus
   |           `--Procompsognathus
   `--Avepoda
      |--Coelophysoidea
      |  |--Dracoraptor
      |  `--+--Coelophysidae
      |     |  Coelophysis
      |     `--Dilophosauridae
      |        Dilophosaurus
      `--Neotheropoda (= Orionides, Avetheropoda, Neotetanurae)
         |--Ceratosauria (= Spinosauroidea, Carnosauria, Deinocheiridae)
         |  Megalosauria
         |  |--Spinosauridae (= Proceratosauridae)
         |  |  |--Proceratosaurus
         |  |  `--+--Deinocheirus
         |  |     `--+--Xiongguanlong
         |  |        `--+--Sinocalliopteryx
         |  |           `--+--Suchomimus
         |  |              `--Spinosaurus
         |  `--+--+--Dilong
         |     |  `--Guanlong
         |     `--Allosauroidea (= Neoceratosauria) (would need to be renamed Megalosauroidea)
         |        |--Abelisauroidea (= Metriacanthosauridae)
         |        |  |--Yutyrannus
         |        |  `--+--Sinraptor (assuming Metriacanthosaurus)
         |        |     `--Abelisauridae
         |        |        Majungasaurus (assuming Abelisaurus)
         |        `--Ceratosauridae (would need to be renamed Megalosauridae)
         |           Allosauria
         |           |--Allosauridae
         |           |  Allosaurus
         |           `--Megalosauridae (= Megalosauroidea, Carcharodontosauridae)
         |              |--+--Sinosaurus
         |              |  `--Monolophosaurus
         |              `--+--Acrocanthosaurus (assuming Carcharodontosaurus)
         |                 `--+--Eustreptospondylus (assuming Megalosaurus)
         |                    `--Ceratosaurus
         `--Coelurosauria (= Tetanurae)
            Maniraptoriformes (= Aviremigia, Tyrannoraptora, Bullatosauria)
            |--Compsognathidae (= Tyrannosauroidea, Arctometatarsalia, Microraptoria)
            |  |--Ornithomimosauria
            |  |  |--Compsognathus
            |  |  `--Struthiomimus (assuming Ornithomimus)
            |  `--+--+--Ornitholestes
            |     |  `--+--Microraptor
            |     |     `--Sinornithosaurus
            |     `--+--Fukuivenator
            |        `--+--Tianyuraptor
            |           `--+--Zhenyuanlong
            |              `--+--Alioramini
            |                 |  Alioramus
            |                 `--Tyrannosauridae
            |                    |--Gorgosaurus
            |                    `--Tyrannosauridae
            `--Maniraptora
               Pennaraptora (= Chuniaoae)
               |--Caenagnathiformes (= Oviraptoriformes)
               |  |--Therizinosauria
               |  |  |--Falcarius
               |  |  `--+--Jianchangosaurus (assuming Therizinosaurus)
               |  |     `--Rahonavis
               |  `--Oviraptorosauria
               |     |--+--Juravenator
               |     |  `--Sinosauropteryx
               |     `--+--Limusaurus
               |        `--Khaan (assuming Caenagnathus and Oviraptor)
               `--Paraves
                  |--Coeluridae
                  |  |--Tanycolagreus (assuming Coelurus)
                  |  `--Eotyrannus
                  `--Metornithes (= Eumaniraptora)
                     |--Dromaeosauridae (= Alvarezsauroidea, Alvarezsauria, Deinonychosauria)
                     |  |--+--Haplocheirus
                     |  |  `--Shuvuuia (assuming Alvarezsaurus)
                     |  `--+--Velociraptor (assuming Dromaeosaurus and Deinonychus)
                     |     `--Balaur
                     `--Avialae (= Averaptora)
                        |--Sinornithoides (assuming Troodon)
                        `--+--Jinfengopteryginae
                           |  Jinfengopteryx
                           `--+--Unenlagiinae
                              |  |--Anchiornis
                              |  `--+--Aurornis
                              |     `--Buitreraptor (assuming Unenlagia)
                              `--+--Sinovenator
                                 `--+--+--Eosinopteryx
                                    |  `--Xiaotingia
                                    `--+--Thermopolis "Archaeopteryx"
                                       `--Ornithothoraces (= Ornithes, Ornithopectae)
                                          |--Archaeopterygidae (= Saurornithes, Enantiornithes)
                                          |  |--Archaeornis
                                          |  `--+--+--Archaeopteryx
                                          |     |  `--Yixian embryo IVPP V14238
                                          |     `--+--Protopteryx
                                          |        `--+--Cathayornis (assuming Iberomesornis and Enantiornis)
                                          |           `--+--Pengornis
                                          |              `--Sulcavis
                                          `--Ornithurae
                                             |--Omnivoropterygiformes
                                             |  |--"Archaeopteryx" bavarica
                                             |  `--+--Mei
                                             |     `--Scansoriopterygidae
                                             |        |--Scansoriopteryx
                                             |        `--+--Yi
                                             |           `--+--Epidexipteryx
                                             |              `--Omnivoropteryx
                                             `--+--Jeholornis
                                                `--+--Jurapteryx
                                                   `--Pygostylia
                                                      |--Confuciusornithiformes
                                                      |  |--Wellnhoferia
                                                      |  `--Confuciusornis
                                                      `--Avebrevicauda
                                                         |--Chiappeavis
                                                         `--+--Sapeornis
                                                            `--+--Archaeornithura
                                                               `--+--Ichthyornis
                                                                  `--Aves
                                                                     |--Struthio
                                                                     `--Gallus (assuming Passer)


That's pretty funny.  Nomenclature fails in Allosauroidea and Compsognathidae, due to the weird topologies there where taxa not seen as closely related enough to need their neighbors as external specifiers suffer.  Ditto for dromaeosaurids vs. alvarezsaurs.  Also for archaeopterygids vs. enantiornithines, which no BAD analysis has ever recovered. 

As for the topology, there's that sister clade to avepods, whose oldest family name would be Procompsognathidae, though none of the members have phylogenetic definitions attached to them.  The division in neotheropods is sort of like Rauhut (2003), who had a huge Carnosauria.  The most basal megalosaurians are all actually basal tyrannosauroids.  Ornithomimids plus tyrannosaurids is a classic clade from Huene to Holtz, and Compsognathus being there reminds me of Olshevsky (1995) having it as a tyrannosaur.  Funny how Peters recovered Enigmosauria, though no doubt for completely different reasons than the dinosaur community, given the inclusion of compsognathids, Limusaurus and Rahonavis.  Troodontids and unenlagiines being avialans has been more popular recently (e.g. Agnolin and Novas, 2013), and the Archaeopteryx plus Enantiornithes pairing hearkens back to the BANDits' Sauriurae.  Similarly, Confuciusornis being closer to Aves than enants reminds me of Kurochkin's (2006) ideas.  And those are the only parallels I can make between Peters' non-consensus phylogeny and science.  My head's full of non-traditional phylogenetic proposals, but Deinocheirus as a spinosaur, or microraptorans as basal tyrannosaurs while Velociraptor is by alvarezsaurs?  That's just nuts.

So David, first I'd say you should start using the names Archaeornis, Jurapteryx and Wellnhoferia if you find these taxa away from the Archaeopteryx holotype.  But also, I think it would be amusing if you added the following- Megalosaurus, Hexing, Nothronychus/Erlikosaurus, Caudipteryx, Achillobator, Dromaeosaurus and Patagopteryx.


Peters' reconstruction of Archaeornithura meemannae from 3-26-16, preserved in case it's deleted like the first was (though Peters to his partial credit does say "Updated March 16, 2016 with new images. The beak, if present, is ephemeral, questionable. Only two scores changed.").

References- Olshevsky, 1995. The origin and evolution of the tyrannosaurids. Kyoryugaku Saizensen. 9, 92-119 (part 1); 10, 75-99 (part 2).
 

Rauhut, 2003. The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropod dinosaurs. Special Papers in Palaeontology. 69, 1-213.  

Kurochkin, 2006. Parallel evolution of theropod dinosaurs and birds. Entomological Review. 86(suppl. 1), S45-S58.

Agnolin and Novas, 2013. Avian ancestors: A review of the phylogenetic relationships of the theropods Unenlagiidae, Microraptoria, Anchiornis and Scansoriopterygidae. Springer. 96 pp.