Furileusauria ("stiff back lizards") is an extinct clade of derived abelisaurid dinosaurs only known from South American fossil remains. They represent some of the largest members of the Abelisauridae, with an average length of . The clade is defined as the most inclusive clade containing Carnotaurus sastrei but not Ilokelesia aguadagrandensis, Skorpiovenator bustingorryi, or Majungasaurus crenatissimus.
Classification
Distinguishing traits
Furileusauria is distinguished by several traits exclusive to the members of this clade. These are:
the presence of a tip in the middle area of the posterior surface of the ventral process of the postorbital the presence of a knob followed by a deep notch in the postorbital-squamosal contact the absence of fenestra between the frontal, postorbital and lacrimal an anterior projection of the distal end of the cervical epiphophyses the posterior margin of the postzygapophyses at level with the intervertebral articulation in dorsal vertebrae a crescent-shaped morphology of the distal tip of the transverse processes in anterior and middle caudal vertebrae the transverse processes of anterior caudal vertebrae distally expanded and only anteriorly projected a convex external margin of the transverse processes in anterior caudal vertebrae cnemial crest of the tibia with a downturned process
Phylogeny
In the description of the abelisaurid Llukalkan, the authors performed a phylogenetic analysis to test the affinities of the new taxon. The simplified strict consensus tree of the analysis is shown below.