Andrea Cau

Andrea Cau is an Italian vertebrate paleontologist. He specialises in the study of dinosaur cladistics. Cau named the unique dromaeosaurid theropod Halszkaraptor in 2017. He also reanalysed the theropod Balaur, placing it as a basal avialan (primitive bird) rather than a dromaeosaur.^[1][2]

Halszkaraptor escuilliei fossil

Below is a list of taxa that Cau has contributed to naming:

Year	Taxon	Authors
2021	Ceratosuchops inferodios gen. et sp. nov.	Barker, Hone, Naish, Cau, Lockwood, Foster, Clarkin, Schneider, & Gostling[3]
2021	Riparovenator milnerae gen. et sp. nov.	Barker, Hone, Naish, Cau, Lockwood, Foster, Clarkin, Schneider, & Gostling[3]
2020	Kompsornis longicaudus gen. et sp. nov.	Wang, Huang, Kundrát, Cau, Liu, Wang, & Ju[4]
2017	Halszkaraptor escuilliei gen. et sp. nov.	Cau, Beyrand, Voeten, Fernandez, Tafforeau, Stein, Barsbold, Tsogtbaatar, Currie, & Godefroit[5]
2017	Serikornis sungei gen. et sp. nov.	Lefèvre, Cau, Cincotta, Hu, Chinsamy, Escuillié, & Godefroit[6]
2013	Aurornis xui gen. et sp. nov.	Godefroit, Cau, Dong-Yu, Escuillié, Wenhao, & Dyke[7]
2013	Tataouinea hannibalis gen. et sp. nov.	Fanti, Cau, Hassine, & Contessi[8]
2011	Neptunidraco ammoniticus gen. et sp. nov.	Cau & Fanti[9]

Personal life

Cau graduated in 2017 with a PhD in Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

References

1. Cau Brougham Naish (June 18, 2015). "The phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaur bondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ. 3 (3): e1032. doi:10.7717/peerj.1032. PMC 4476167. PMID 26157616. S2CID 1124579.
2. "Andrea Cau". PeerJ.
3. Barker, Chris T.; Hone, David W. E.; Naish, Darren; Cau, Andrea; Lockwood, Jeremy A. F.; Foster, Brian; Clarkin, Claire E.; Schneider, Philipp; Gostling, Neil J. (29 September 2021). "New spinosaurids from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, UK) and the European origins of Spinosauridae". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 19340. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97870-8. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8481559. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
4. Wang, Xuri; Huang, Jiandong; Kundrát, Martin; Cau, Andrea; Liu, Xiaoyu; Wang, Yang; Ju, Shubin (1 September 2020). "A new jeholornithiform exhibits the earliest appearance of the fused sternum and pelvis in the evolution of avialan dinosaurs". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 199: 104401. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2020.104401. Retrieved 10 January 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
5. Cau, Andrea; Beyrand, Vincent; Voeten, Dennis F. A. E.; Fernandez, Vincent; Tafforeau, Paul; Stein, Koen; Barsbold, Rinchen; Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav; Currie, Philip John; Godefroit, Pascal (6 December 2017). "Synchrotron scanning reveals amphibious ecomorphology in a new clade of bird-like dinosaurs". Nature. 552 (7685): 395–399. doi:10.1038/nature24679. ISSN 1476-4687. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
6. Lefèvre, Ulysse; Cau, Andrea; Cincotta, Aude; Hu, Dongyu; Chinsamy, Anusuya; Escuillié, François; Godefroit, Pascal (22 August 2017). "A new Jurassic theropod from China documents a transitional step in the macrostructure of feathers". The Science of Nature. 104 (9–10). doi:10.1007/s00114-017-1496-y. ISSN 0028-1042. Retrieved 1 February 2025 – via Springer Nature Link.
7. Godefroit, Pascal; Cau, Andrea; Dong-Yu, Hu; Escuillié, François; Wenhao, Wu; Dyke, Gareth John (29 May 2013). "A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds". Nature. 498 (7454): 359–362. doi:10.1038/nature12168. ISSN 1476-4687. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
8. Fanti, Federico; Cau, Andrea; Hassine, Mohsen; Contessi, Michela (9 July 2013). "A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Tunisia with extreme avian-like pneumatization". Nature Communications. 4 (1): 2080. doi:10.1038/ncomms3080. ISSN 2041-1723. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
9. Cau, Andrea; Fanti, Federico (March 2011). "The oldest known metriorhynchid crocodylian from the Middle Jurassic of North-eastern Italy: Neptunidraco ammoniticus gen. et sp. nov". Gondwana Research. 19 (2): 550–565. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.07.007. Retrieved 5 January 2025 – via Elsevier Science Direct.