Spinostropheus gautieri ( Lapparent, 1960 ) Sereno, Wilson & Conrad, 2004

Souza-Júnior, André Luis de, Candeiro, Carlos Roberto dos Anjos, Vidal, Luciano da Silva, Brusatte, Stephen Louis & Mortimer, Mickey, 2023, Abelisauroidea (Theropoda, Dinosauria) from Africa: a review of the fossil record, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 63, pp. 1-13 : 7

Spinostropheus gautieri ( Lapparent, 1960) Sereno, Wilson & Conrad, 2004

– S. gautieri has a controversial history. Lapparent (1960) described two series of fossils from Tedreft, one a lot of probably unassociated ( Carrano & Sampson, 2008) remains and the other an associated skeleton, as the new species Elaphrosaurus gautieri . As noted by Rauhut & Carrano (2016), these are all catalogued as syntypes under the number MNHN 1961-28. The incomplete description and illustration by Lapparent makes it difficult to know which elements belonged to the supposedly associated skeleton, and Carrano & Sampson further state some of the material cannot be located. Sereno et al. (2004) chose a mid-cervical from the unassociated lot (plate XI, fig. 5 in Lapparent) as the holotype, though Rauhut & Carrano noted this did not count as a formal lectotype designation under ICZN rules. Regardless , Sereno et al. proceeded to refer new specimen MNN TIG6 (an articulated axial column preserving the third cervical to the anterior sacrals with complete cervical and fragmentary dorsal ribs) to the species and made it the type of the new genus Spinostropheus . MNHN 1961-28 was found in Tedreft 250 km northwest of Agadez, while MNN TIG6 was found in Fako 100 km southwest of Agadez. Both specimens were found in to the Tiourarén Formation ( Bathonian ), which outcrops in Niger. A proximal metatarsal from the younger Continental Intercalaire was also assigned to the species by Lapparent; however, as this specimen is fragmentary and cannot clearly be assigned to S.gautieri , were do not consider it further.

Sereno et al. (2004) scored MNN TIG 6 in their phylogenetic analysis and recovered it as a basal abelisauroid, while Carrano & Sampson (2008) scored the syntype material and MNN TIG6 and recovered it to be a basal ceratosaur. Most recently, Wang et al. (2017) included both specimens and recovered the OTU as a noasaurid. However, while Carrano & Sampson believed the mid cervical and at least one tibia are ceratosaur-like, Rauhut & Carrano (2016) stated it lacked synapomorphies of Ceratosauria and could belong to Tetanurae instead. They provided several differences from Elaphrosaurus , supporting the use of Spinostropheus for MNHN 1961-28, but stated it was quite different from MNN TIG6, so removed the latter specimen from the hypodigm.