Poekilopleuron
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| Poekilopleuron Fossil range: Middle Jurassic |
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Poekilopleuron is an extinct genus of large basal tetanuran theropod dinosaur, pertaining to the clade Megalosauroidea. It measured thirty feet (nine metres) long and one ton (one tonne) in mass. It dates from the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic), 168 to 165 million years ago. It is mostly known from a partial skeleton discovered in France in 1824 and was initially subsumed into what would become the wastebasket taxon Megalosaurus; it was renamed in 1923. This skeleton was destroyed during World War II, and the taxon has since had to be studied on the basis of cast replicas.
Poekilopleuron's most distinctive feature was its forelimbs. Their length was a sign of this theropod's primitive nature. Unlike later theropods, whose forelimbs tended toward reduction in length in proportion to the animals' size, Poekilopleuron's were long and, by implication, potent. The antebrachia (forearms) were markedly short and robust, a characteristic shared with Poekilopleuron's slighter later and considerably larger American cousin Torvosaurus.
Because the original fossil was destroyed and no other remains of this species have since been found, and also because of its name change, there is much controversy surrounding this classification that cannot be resolved.
A skull previously thought to belong to a species of Poekilopleuron and named P.valesdunensis turned out to be distinct from Poekilopleuron. It was renamed Dubreillosaurus in 2006.
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