Ischyrosaurus
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Extinct (fossil)
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| '''Ischyrosaurus manseli''' Hulke, 1874 ?vide Lydekker, 1888 |
'"Ischyrosaurus"' (meaning "strong lizard", for its large humerus; name in quotation marks because it is preoccupied) was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian-age Upper Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset, Cambridgeshire, England. It is sometimes included with the Early Cretaceous-age wastebasket taxon Pelorosaurus, although there is little evidence for this.
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[edit] History and Taxonomy
"Ischyrosaurus" is based on a partial humerus (BMNH R41626) found in 1868.[1] John Hulke described it briefly in 1869,[1] then named it in 1874.[2] George Olshevsky suggests that he became credited for coining the binomial Ischyrosaurus manseli without having published it (according to him, Richard Lydekker (1888)[3] got the name from an unpublished 1874 manuscript by Hulke), but the Paleobiology Database suggests otherwise. Either way, the genus is preoccupied by a name Edward Drinker Cope coined in 1869 or 1870 (see the talk page for a discussion), but Cope's name was in use by 1871, so it predates Hulke's either way.
Like most sauropod remains from the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous of Europe, it became part of the Pelorosaurus-Ornithopsis taxonomic tangle, being referred first to Ornithopsis as O. manseli,[3] then to Pelorosaurus as P. manseli.[4][5][6] There was never any strong evidence to refer it to either of these Cretaceous genera [1] apart from general similarity among some of the material.
Upchurch et al., in the most recent review (2004), lists it as a dubious sauropod of unknown affinities,[7] although, as noted by Darren Naish, it could be a brachiosaurid. A new name is technically required, but because of the fractured taxonomy of Jurassic-Cretaceous European sauropods, researchers are waiting for better material.
*Note: Because Ischyrosaurus Cope, 1871, the unnecessary replacement name for Ischyrotherium Leidy, 1858, has been unused since 1899 and is therefore a nomen oblitum, a petition will be submitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to suppress Ischyrosaurus Cope, 1871 to conserve Ischyrosaurus Hulke, 1874 vide Lydekker, 1888 as the unpreoccupied scientific name.
[edit] Paleobiology
As a sauropod, it would have been a large quadrupedal herbivore.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hulke, J.W. (1869). Notes on a large saurian humerus from the Kimmeridge Clay of the Dorset Coast. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London June 23:386-389.
- ^ Hulke, J.W. (1874). Note on a very large saurian limb-bone adapted for progression upon land, from the Kimmeridge Clay of Weymouth, Dorset. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 30:16-17.
- ^ a b Lydekker, R. (1888). Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I. Containing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria. British Museum (Natural History):London, 1-309.
- ^ von Huene, F. (1909). Skizze zu einer Systematik und Stammesgeschichte der Dinosaurier. Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie 1909:12-22. [German]
- ^ Romer, A.S. (1956). Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press:Chicago 1-772. ISBN 0-89464985-X
- ^ Steel, R. (1970). Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Part 14. Gustav Fischer Verlag:Stuttgart p. 1-87.
- ^ a b Upchurch, P.M., Barrett, P.M., and Dodson, P. (2004). Sauropoda. In: Weishampel, D.B., Osmólska, H., and Dodson, P. (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd edition). University of California Press:Berkeley 259-322. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
