Dinodocus

Dinodocus (meaning "terrible beam") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur, named by Richard Owen in 1884. The name is now usually considered a nomen dubium. The only species, D. mackesoni, a name given to some fossil bones from the Atherfield Clay Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Hythe, Kent, England, were formerly placed in the genus Pelorosaurus (Mantell, 1850[1]), but a review by Upchurch et al. (2004) concluded that Dinodocus is a nomen dubium.[2]

Dinodocus
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 125–122 Ma
↓
Humerus of the holotype
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Sauropsida
Superorder:
Dinosauria
Order:
Saurischia
Suborder:
Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder:
Sauropoda
Genus:
†Dinodocus

Owen, 1884
Binomial name
†Dinodocus mackesoni
Owen, 1884
Synonyms

Discovery and naming

The holotype was discovered in 1840 by Mr H. B. Mackeson. In 1841, Richard Owen noted on the fossils.[3] The holotype, NHMUK 14695, was listed by Owen as "portions of the corocoid, humerus and ulna, iliac, ischial and pubic bones, a large portion of the shaft of a femur, parts of a tibia and fibula, and several metatarsal bones". Owen assigned the specimen to the pliosaur Polyptychodon.[3] In 1850, Gideon Mantell assigned the specimen to Pelorosaurus[1] but Richard Owen placed the fossils in a separate genus, Dinodocus, in 1884. In 1908, Dinodocus was synonymized with Pelorosaurus again, this time by Arthur Smith Woodward.[4] In 2004, Paul Upchurch validated the genus Dinodocus.[2]

References
  1. "Fossilworks: Pelorosaurus". fossilworks.org.
  2. Upchurch, P., Barrett, P.M. and Dodson, P. 2004. Sauropoda. In The Dinosauria, 2nd edition. D. Weishampel, P. Dodson, and H. Osmólska (eds.). University of California Press, Berkeley. Pp. 259–322.
  3. Owen R (1841) "Report on British Fossil Reptiles. Part II". Page 195. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 11th Meeting (1841).
  4. Woodward A S (May 1908) "Note on Dinodocus mackesoni, a cetiosaurian from the Lower Greensand of Kent". Geological Magazine 5(5): 204-206.


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