ALTISPINAX
a carnivorous tetanuran theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Germany.

Pronunciation: AL-ti-SPIEN-aks
Meaning: High-spined
Author/s: von Huene (
1923)
Synonyms: Megalosaurus dunkeri (Dames 1884)
First Discovery: Lower Saxony, Germany
Discovery Chart Position: #137
Altispinax dunkeri
Altispinax was named by Friedrich von Huene in 1923 for part of the material that Richard Lydekker had removed from Megalosaurus bucklandii and assigned, along with almost all of the British Museum's Wealden theropod collection, to Megalosaurus dunkeri in 1888. The name, "high spined", was coined for a series of three vertebrae discovered by Samuel Beckles in East Sussex, England, with ascending paddle-like spines five times longer than the vertebrae to which they were attached. However, Altispinax is no longer attached to those vertebrae, and it isn't English, it's German.
(Dunker's high-spined one)Etymology
Altispinax is derived from the Latin "altus" (high) and "spina" (thorn, spine), alluding to the high-spined vertebrae which were once assigned here. The
species epithet,
dunkeri, honors Dunker who discovered its remains many years before it was formally named.
Discovery
The remains of
Altispinax were discovered in the Obernkirchen Sandstein in the Deister Hills of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Germany, by German paleontologist Wilhelm Dunker. The
holotype (UM 84) is a single, nondescript theropod tooth.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Early Cretaceous
Stage: Barremian
Age range: 130-125 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Carnivore
Other Species
Altispinax oweni was coined by Friedrich von Huene in 1923 for BMNH R2559: three metatarsals from the Early Jurassic Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation in Cuckfield that Owen had assigned to the herbivorous
Hylaeosaurus in 1858. Part of the pile of British Museum remains that Richard Lydekker assigned to
Megalosaurus dunkeri in 1888, these foot bones were renamed
Megalosaurus oweni by Lydekker a mere year later, and George Olshevsky used them to raise
Valdoraptor in 1995.
Altispinax parkeri was coined by Friedrich von Huene in 1932 for OUM J.12144: a partial hip, leg and backbones from Jordan's Cliff at Weymouth that he had named
Megalosaurus parkeri himself in 1923! In 1964 this material was renamed
Metriacanthosaurus by Alick Walker.
Altispinax lydekkerhueneorum was coined by S. Pickering in 1995 for BMNH R1828, the name-prompting vertebrae that, after a stint as
Acrocanthosaurus altispinax (Paul, 1988), were renamed
Becklespinax altispinax (George Olshevsky, 1995).
Altispinax lydekkerhueneorum is therefore a junior synonym of
Becklespinax altispinax.
Altispinax altispinax was coined in 2003 Oliver Rahaut.
The name is ridiculous, and thankfully nothing more than a junior synonym of
Becklespinax altispinax, which isn't much better.
References
• Dames WB (1885) "Vorlegung eines Zahnes von Megalosaurus aus den Wealden des Deisters".
Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, Jahrbuch 1884, 36: 186-188.
• Lydekker R (July 1889) "Note on some points in the nomenclature of fossil reptiles and amphibians, with preliminary notices of two new species".
Geological Magazine 6(7): 325 - 326. DOI: 10.1017/S0016756800176472
• Huene (1923) "Carnivorous Saurischia in Europe since the Triassic".
Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 34: 449-458.
• Lydekker R (1888) "Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, S.W., Part 1. Containing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamta, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria".
British Museum of Natural History, London, 309pp.
• Huene (1926) "The carnivorous Saurischia in the Jura and Cretaceous formations, principally in Europe".
Revista del Museo de La Plata. 29: 1-167.
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"
ALTISPINAX :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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