Rutellum

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"Rutellum" is the pre-Linnaean name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic. It was a sauropod, possibly a cetiosaurid,[1] which lived in what is now England. The "type species", "R. implicatum", was described in 1699 by Edward Lhuyd,[2] and is notable as the earliest scientifically described entity that is recognizable as a dinosaur.[1] It was based on a tooth collected from Caswell, near Whitney, Oxfordshire.[3]

"Rutellum", however, is a nomen oblitum-- a name not used scientifically for at least fifty years after its proposal. Under current ICZN rules, the name is thus invalid.

See also Scrotum.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Delair, J.B., and Sarjeant, W.A.S. (2002). The earliest discoveries of dinosaurs: the records re-examined. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 113:185-197.
  2. ^ Lhuyd, E. (1699). Lithophylacii Britannici Ichnographia, sive lapidium aliorumque fossilium Britannicorum singulari figura insignium. Gleditsch and Weidmann:London.
  3. ^ Gunther, R.T. (1945). Early Science in Oxford: Life and Letters of Edward Lhuyd, volume 14. Author:Oxford.
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