Predatory dinosaurs were an important ecological component of terrestrial Mesozoic
ecosystems. Though theropod dinosaurs carried this role during the Jurassic and
Cretaceous Periods (and probably the post-Carnian portion of the Triassic), it is difficult to
depict the Carnian scenario, due to the scarcity of fossils. Until now, knowledge on the
earliest predatory dinosaurs mostly relies on herrerasaurids recorded in Carnian strata of
South America. Phylogenetic investigations recovered the clade in different positions within …