Lophostropheus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Lostprophets.

Lophostropheus
Temporal range:
Ma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Superfamily: †Coelophysoidea
Genus: †Lophostropheus
Ezcurra & Cuny, 2007
Species:
†L. airelensis
Binomial name
†Lophostropheus airelensis
(Cuny & Galton, 1993)
Synonyms

Lophostropheus (pronounced: "LOAF-oh-STRO-fee-us") is an

Period, in what is now Normandy, France. Lophostropheus is one of the few dinosaurs that may have survived the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event
.

Lophostropheus was a small to medium-sized, moderately-built, ground-dwelling,

bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long. Over the years it had been incorrectly classified as Halticosaurus and Liliensternus
, but was later recognized as a new genus and was reassigned to Lophostropheus in 2007.

Etymology

Lophostropheus was described and named by

Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 2007, and the type species is Lophostropheus airelensis. The composite term Lophostropheus is derived from the Greek words "lophè" (λόφη) meaning "crest" and the word "stropheus" (στροφεύς) meaning "pertaining to the vertebrae";[1] thus, "crest vertebrae". This naming is a reference to the prominent dorsal and ventral laminae observed in the cranial cervical vertebrae. The specific name
, "airelensis" is a reference to the locality where the specimen was discovered, the Airel Quarry.

Description

Estimates suggest that Lophostropheus was at best 3 m (10 ft) long and weighed 100 kilograms (220 pounds) at most.[2] In 2016 Molina-Pérez and Larramendi gave a higher estimation of 5.2 meters (17 ft) and 136 kg (300 lbs).[3] It is based on a partial skeleton first described in 1966 as a specimen of Halticosaurus.

Classification

Lophostropheus differs from other

ball connection to the front of its neck vertebrae, a socket connection to the front of its tail vertebrae, and a vertical ridge on the ilium. These characteristics have all been interpreted as convergences, however.[4] It also has prominent crests on the tops and bottoms of its neck vertebrae (for which it was named),[4] and an extra pair of cavities in its neck vertebrae, unlike Liliensternus.[5] It was closer to the coelophysids, including the well-known Coelophysis, than to Liliensternus.[4] It has been assigned to the superfamily Coelophysoidea. An analysis of early dinosaurs by Baron, Norman and Barrett (2017) placed Lophostropheus in a position close to the derived theropods Sinosaurus and Cryolophosaurus.[6]

Distinguishing anatomical features

A diagnosis is a statement of the anatomical features of an organism (or group) that collectively distinguish it from all other organisms. Some, but not all, of the features in a diagnosis are also autapomorphies. An autapomorphy is a distinctive anatomical feature that is unique to a given organism or group.

According to Ezcurra and Cuny (2007), Lophostropheus can be distinguished based on the following characteristics:

History of discovery

In 1966, the French paleontologists Claude Larsonneur and Albert-Félix de Lapparent described a partial theropod skeleton from the Triassic-Jurassic boundary of Normandy, found in 1959 by Claude Pareyn, as Halticosaurus sp.[7] This specimen consisted of a tooth, five neck vertebrae, two vertebrae from the back, four sacral vertebrae, tail vertebrae, portions of all the pelvic bones, and an unidentified fragment.[4] It was reinterpreted in 1993 by Gilles Cuny and Peter Galton as belonging to a new species, assigned to Liliensternus and named L. airelensis.[8] Other researchers began to notice differences between L. airelensis and the type species, L. liliensterni,[5][9] such as those observed in the pleurocoels of the cervical vertebrae,[5] and in 2007, Martin Ezcurra and Gilles Cuny assigned it to its own genus, Lophostropheus.[4]

Paleobiology

Lophostropheus, as a coelophysoid, would have been a small to medium-sized bipedal carnivore,[10] probably comparable in size and habits to Liliensternus (best specimen estimated at 5.15 meters long, or 16.9 feet).[11] Very few dinosaurs are known from its time period; in fact, it is the only theropod genus known from good remains at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.[4]

Paleoecology

The remains of the type specimen of Lophostropheus airelensis was recovered in the Airel Quarry locality of the

Caen University
in Normandy, France, and has not been assigned a collection number.

References

  1. ISBN 0-19-910207-4
    .
  2. ^ "LOPHOSTROPHEUS". Dinochecker.com. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  3. ^ Molina-Pérez & Larramendi (2016). Récords y curiosidades de los dinosaurios Terópodos y otros dinosauromorfos. Spain: Larousse. p. 253.
  4. ^
    doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[73:TCLAGN]2.0.CO;2
    .
  5. ^ a b c Rauhut, Oliver W.M.; Hungerbühler, A. (2002). "A review of European Triassic theropods". Gaia. 15: 75–88.
  6. doi:10.1038/nature21700
  7. ^ C., Larsonneur; and de Lapparent, Albert-Félix (1966). "Un dinosaurien carnivore, Halticosaurus, dans le Rhétien d'Airel (Manche)". Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Normandie (in French). 7: 108–117.
  8. ^ Cuny, Gilles; Galton, Peter M. (1993). "Revision of the Airel theropod dinosaur from the Triassic-Jurassic boundary (Normandy, France)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen. 187 (3): 261–288.
  9. ^ Carrano, M. T., and Sampson, S. D., 2004, A review of coelophysoids (Dinosauria: theropoda) from the Early Jurassic of Europe, with comments on the late history of the coelophysoidea: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte, 2004, n. 9, p. 537-558.
  10. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
    .
  11. ISBN 0-671-61946-2
    .
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lophostropheus&oldid=1182918647"