Pronunciation: DISS-tro-FAY-us
Meaning: Coarse joint
Author/s: Cope (1877)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Utah, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #45
Dystrophaeus viaemalae
(Coarse Joint of the Bad Road)Etymology
Dystrophaeusis is derived from the Greek "dys" (bad) and "stropheus" (joint), in reference to the coarse, pitted joint surfaces where cartillage attached. The species epithet, viaemalae, is derived from the Latin "viae malae" (of the bad road), in reference to the various arduous routes taken to find, reach and salvage the remains, which were stuck halfway up a cliff face.
Discovery
The remains of Dystrophaeus were discovered in the Tidwell Member of the Morrison Formation at "East Canyon Quarry", San Juan County, Utah, USA, by Dr. John Strong Newberry, a geologist and naturalist on the 1859 U.S. Army Engineers survey of San Juan, led by Captain John N. Macomb.
The holotype (USNM 2364) consists of a lower arm bone (ulna) that was initially misidentified as an upper arm bone (humerus), a piece of lower arm bone (radius) that was initially mistaken as another lower arm bone (ulna), three metacarpals (hand bones) that Cope also listed as metatarsals (foot bones) in the same paper, a "probable sternum" that probably wasn't, something that was a shoulder blade then a pelvic arch then a shoulder blade again, and, apparently, a partial back vertebrae that appeared from goodness knows where.
Several fossils were left in the cliff face due to the expedition's time constraints, but the quarry has been revisited several times since the initial discovery in 1859 and more parts of the same specimen recovered, including teeth, vertebrae from the back and tail, and limb bones. The new specimens have yet to be prepared or described.
