PELOROSAURUS
a plant-eating brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of England.
Pronunciation: pe-LOH-ro-SOR-us
Meaning: Monstrous lizard
Author/s: Mantell (
1850)
Synonyms: Cetiosaurus conybeari
First Discovery: Sussex, England
Discovery Chart Position: #9
Pelorosaurus conybearei
(Conybeare's Monstrous Lizard)Etymology
Pelorosaurus is derived from the Greek "Peloros" (monstrous, gigantic) and "sauros" (lizard). The
species epithet,
conybearei, honors English geologist, palaeontologist and clergyman William Daniel Conybeare.
It was officially named on Valentine's day—February 14th—1850. There's no relevance, we just thought you might like to know.
Synonyms
Cetiosaurus brevis (Owen, 1842)
Cetiosaurus conybeari (Melville, 1849)
Discovery
The first fossils of
Pelorosaurus were recovered from the Wealden Sandstone, Tilgate Forest, Sussex, England, by Mr. Peter Fuller in 1847.
The
holotype (BMNH R28626) is a "stupendous
humerus" (a right, upper arm bone).
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Early Cretaceous
Stage: Valanginian-Barremian
Age range: 140-125 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 24 meters
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: 30 tons
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Owen R (1842) "Report on British fossil reptiles, Part II".
• Melville AG (1849) "Notes on the vertebral column of
Iguanodon".
• Mantell GA (1850) "
On the Pelorosaurus: an undescribed gigantic terrestrial reptile, whose remains are associated with those of the Iguanodon and other saurians in the strata of Tilgate Forest, in Sussex".
• Upchurch P and Martin J (2003) "The Anatomy and Taxonomy of
Cetiosaurus (Saurischia, Sauropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of England".
• Upchurch P, Martin J and Taylor MP (2009) "
Case 3472: Cetiosaurus Owen, 1841 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda): proposed conservation of usage by designation of Cetiosaurus oxoniensis Phillips, 1871 as the type species".
• Brett-Surman, Holtz and Farlow (2012) "
The Complete Dinosaur: Second Edition".
• Upchurch P, Mannion PD and Taylor MP (2015) "
The Anatomy and Phylogenetic Relationships of “Pelorosaurus“ becklesii (Neosauropoda, Macronaria) from the Early Cretaceous of England".
PLoS ONE, 10(6): e0125819.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
PELOROSAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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