Calamosaurus
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Calamosaurus foxi |
Calamosaurus (meaning "reed lizard") was a genus of small theropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It is based on two cervical vertebrae (BMNH R901), collected by Reverend William Fox.
[edit] History and taxonomy
Richard Lydekker ran across these bones when cataloguing the Fox collection and named them Calamospondylus, noting their similarity to those of Coelurus.[1] Unfortunately, Calamospondylus had already been coined in 1866 (ironically by Reverend Fox himself, the very man honored in Lydekker's species name).[2] Lydekker renamed it in 1891 to its present title.[3] He also at this time provisionally referred to it a tibia, BMNH R186, which may be from a basal coelurosaurian like a compsognathid.[4]
Because of its sparse remains, it has received little attention. Often, it has been synonymized with Calamospondylus as part of a long, confusing taxonomic tangle,[5][6][7] although there is no comparable material between the two genera.[4] Modern reviews have regarded it as a dubious theropod,[8][9] although potentially a valid coelurosaurian.[4]
[edit] Paleobiology
As a possible basal coelurosaur, Calamosaurus would have been a small, agile, bipedal carnivore. Naish et al (2001) estimate the living animal would have been around 3-5 meters long (9.8-16.4 feet), with a small head given the build of the neck vertebrae.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Lydekker. R. (1889). On a coelurid dinosaur from the Wealden. Geological Magazine 6:119-121.
- ^ Fox, W.D. in Anonymous. (1866) Another Wealden reptile. Athenaeum 2014:740.
- ^ Lydekker. R. (1891). On certain ornithosaurian and dinosaurian remains. Quartely Journal of the Geological Society of London 47:41-44.
- ^ a b c d Naish, D., Hutt, S., and Martill, D.M. (2001). Saurischian dinosaurs 2: theropods. In: Martill, D.M., and Naish, D. (eds.). Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. The Palaeontological Association:London, 242-309. ISBN 0-901707-72-2
- ^ Swinton, W.E. (1936). The dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 47(3):204-220.
- ^ 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, 1-87.
- ^ Norman, D.B. (1990). Problematic theropoda: "coelurosaurs". In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria. University of California Press:Berkeley, 280-305. ISBN 0-520-06727-4.
- ^ Holtz Jr., T.R., Molnar, R.E., and Currie, P.J. (2004). Basal Tetanurae. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press:Berkeley, 71-110. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
