Bothriospondylus Temporal range: Late Jurassic, | |
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Illustration of the holotype vertebrae of B. suffosus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | † Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | † Sauropoda |
Clade: | † Neosauropoda (?) |
Genus: | † Bothriospondylus Owen, 1875 |
Species: | †B. suffossus |
Binomial name | |
†Bothriospondylus suffossus Owen, 1875 | |
Synonyms | |
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Bothriospondylus ("excavated vertebra") is a dubious genus of neosauropod sauropod dinosaur. It lived during the Late Jurassic in England, and the type and only species is B. suffossus. [1]
The type species, Bothriospondylus suffossus, was described by Richard Owen in 1875. [1] The specific epithet suffossus means "undermined" in Latin, a reference to the fact that pleurocoels had hollowed out the sides of the vertebra. It is often incorrectly spelled as "suffosus". Owen based the species on holotype NHMUK R.44592-5, a set of four dorsal vertebrae found in Wiltshire in stratum from the Kimmeridgian, the Kimmeridge Clay. Also three unfused sacral vertebrae were referred.
At the same time Owen named three other species of Bothriospondylus. B. robustus was based on NHMUK R.22428, a dorsal from the same location. B. elongatus was based on a vertebra from Sussex, NHMUK R.2239, an original syntype of Ornithopsis hulkei. Finally, Bothriospondylus magnus was a new name for another syntype of Ornithopsis hulkei Seeley 1870, the present lectotype NHMUK 28632. [1] Owen himself in an addendum to the same publication renamed B. robustus to Marmarospondylus robustus. Friedrich von Huene in 1908 referred the material to Pelorosaurus and in 1922 made B. suffossus into a Ornithopsis suffossa because the latter generic name has priority.
More complete material from Madagascar was named by Richard Lydekker as a fifth species, Bothriospondylus madagascariensis. [2] Franz Nopcsa in 1902 assigned to Bothriospondylus a vertebra from Argentina that later would be renamed Nopcsaspondylus . A skeleton from France was assigned to Bothriospondylus madagascariensis, [3] but has been described as a new genus and species of brachiosaurid, Vouivria . [4]
In 1986 José Fernando Bonaparte moved material from "B." sp. into its own genus, Lapparentosaurus . The material, sometimes referred to B. madagascariensis, was separated into a few dorsal vertebrae to be the new lectotype of Lapparentosaurus. [5]
A revision in 2010 by Philip Mannion concluded that Bothriospondylus is a nomen dubium . However, "Bothriospondylus" madagascariensis was treated as valid and distinct from other Middle Jurassic sauropods from Madagascar. [6] It was named Narindasaurus thevenini by Royo-Torres et al. in 2020. [7]
Bothriospondylus has over the years been assigned to many groups — even in a Bothriospondylidae of its own [2] — with Brachiosauridae lately being the most popular designation. However, the sparse and eroded material shows no synapomorphies of the Brachiosauridae and cannot be further determined than a very general Neosauropoda. [6]
Only the type species of Bothriospondylus can be referred, because of the dubious nature of the genus. [6]
Several species have been referred to Bothriospondylus over its existence, with nearly all being reassigned to a new genus.
Titanosaurus is a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaurs, first described by Richard Lydekker in 1877. It is known from the Maastrichtian Lameta Formation of India.
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Cetiosauriscus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived between 166 and 164 million years ago during the Callovian in what is now England. A herbivore, Cetiosauriscus had – by sauropod standards – a moderately long tail, and longer forelimbs, making them as long as its hindlimbs. It has been estimated as about 15 m (49 ft) long and between 4 and 10 t in weight.
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Eucamerotus was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation (Wealden) of the Isle of Wight, England.
Marmarospondylus is a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur from Middle Jurassic deposits in the English Midlands.
Ornithopsis is a genus of sauropod dinosaur, from the Early Cretaceous of England. The type species, which is the only species seen as valid today, is O. hulkei, which is only known from fragmentary remains, and has been regarded by many authors as dubious.
Iuticosaurus is a genus of titanosaur sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight. Two species have been named: I. valdensis and I. lydekkeri. I. valdensis was found in the Wessex Formation and I. lydekkeri in the younger Upper Greensand.
Lapparentosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic. Its fossils were found in Madagascar. The type species is L. madagascariensis.
Turiasauria is an unranked clade of basal sauropod dinosaurs known from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous deposits in Europe, North America, and Africa.
Neosauropoda is a clade within Dinosauria, coined in 1986 by Argentine paleontologist José Bonaparte and currently described as Saltasaurus loricatus, Diplodocus longus, and all animals directly descended from their most recent common ancestor. The group is composed of two subgroups: Diplodocoidea and Macronaria. Arising in the early Jurassic and persisting until the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, Neosauropoda contains the majority of sauropod genera, including genera such as Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Diplodocus. It also includes giants such as Argentinosaurus, Patagotitan and Sauroposeidon, and its members remain the largest land animals ever to have lived.
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Vouivria is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, belonging to the Brachiosauridae, that lived in the area of present France during the Late Jurassic. The type species is Vouivria damparisensis.
Wamweracaudia is a large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania, Africa, 155-145 million years ago.
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