GIGANTOSAURUS
a dubious species of plant-eating sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of England.
Pronunciation: jih-GAN-toe-SOR-us
Meaning: Giant lizard
Author/s: Seeley (
1869)
Synonyms: Unknown
First Discovery: Cambridgeshire, England
Discovery Chart Position: #29
Gigantosaurus megalonyx
(Giant lizard with a great claw)Etymology
Gigantosaurus is derived from the Greek "gigas" (giant) and "sauros" (lizard).
The
species epithet,
megalonyx, is derived from the Greek "megas" (great) and "onyx" (claw).
Discovery
The remains of
Gigantosaurus were discovered in the Lower Kimmeridge Clay of Cambridgeshire, England. There isn't a
holotype per se, more a mish mash of fragments dragged from various sites at various times that constitute a rough syntype series, mainly because they weren't referable to any of the area's plesiosaurs, crocodilians, ichtyosaurs or chelonians. Included are such gems as the cast of a fibula from Ely that turned out to be a radius, a tail vertebra (CAM J. 29478) found by Reverend S. Banks at Cottenham and casts of a claw (CAM J.29479) from Ely that have also been referred to
Ornithopsis humerocristatus, a partial tibia which as far as anyone knows was found "exhibited over cabinet LXXXII", a "dermal plate" found by Banks at Cottenham that has no right being referred to Sauropoda, and a single neck vertebra (CAM. J. 29477) found by Banks at Streatham—which is probably from the tail and perhaps the property of England's oldest
Diplodocus relative—that Lydekker renamed
Pelorosaurus manseli in 1890.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Late Jurassic
Stage: Kimmeridgian
Age range: 156-151 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Seeley H G (1869) "
Gigantosaurus megalonyx, a terrestrial reptile from the Kimeridge Clay".
Page 94-95 in "Index to the Fossil Remains of Aves, Ornithosauria, and Reptilia from the Secondary System of Strata, arranged in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge".
• Lydekker R (1888) "
Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I. Containing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria".
British Museum (Natural History), London: 1-309.
• Lydekker R (1890) "
Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part IV. Containing the Orders Anomodontia, Ecaudata, Caudata and Labyrinthodontoa, and Supplement".
British Museum (Natural History), London: 1-295.
• Fraas E (Jan 1, 1908) "Ostafrikanische dinosaurier".
Palaeontographica, 55(2): 105-144.
• Huene F von (1909) "Skizze zu einer Systematik und Stammesgeschichte der Dinosaurier [Sketch of the systematics and origins of the dinosaurs]".
Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, 1909: 12-22
• Sternfeld R (1911) "Zur Nomenklatur der Gattung
Gigantosaurus Fraas [On the nomenclature of the genus
Gigantosaurus Fraas]".
Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 8: 398
• Remes K (2004) "Revision von
'Barosaurus' africanus (Sauropoda, Diplodocinae) aus den Tendaguru-Schichten Tansanias".
Unpublished diploma thesis, Freie Universität Berlin, 121 pp.
• Remes K (2006) "Revision of the Tendaguru sauropod
Tornieria africana (Fraas) and its relevance for sauropod paleobiogeography".
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26: 651-669.
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Atkinson, L.
"
GIGANTOSAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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