Open Paleo

Acanthopholis

Huxley, 1867 a-kan-THOF-o-lis /ˌækənˈθɒfoʊlɪs/ Nomen dubium

From Greek 'akantha' meaning 'spine' or 'thorn' and 'pholis' meaning 'scale'; meaning 'spiny scales'

100.5–93.9 million years ago Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Acanthopholis is a nomen dubium for armored ankylosaur remains from the Cenomanian of Kent, England, which Pereda-Suberbiola and Barrett (1999) refer to Nodosauridae. Only its type species, A. horrida, is retained in the genus; Seeley's further species are now referred to other groups.

Species

Acanthopholis horrida Huxley, 1867 Nomen dubium

Type species

From Latin 'horrida' (originally 'horridus') meaning 'frightening' or 'rough', referring to the animal's armored appearance.

Syntypes
GSM 109045, GSM 109046, GSM 109047, GSM 109048, GSM 109049, GSM 109050, GSM 109051, GSM 109052, GSM 109053, GSM 109055, GSM 109056, GSM 109057 , British Geological Survey
Material
Scutes and spines of dermal armor, three teeth, fragmentary vertebrae, partial skull (basioccipital and basisphenoid), and distal end of a humerus.
Notes
Huxley (1867) founded the species on a series of 12 specimens and designated no holotype; no lectotype has been designated since. Pereda-Suberbiola and Barrett (1999) exclude GSM 109054 and GSM 109058, two caudal vertebrae added to the type series by Coombs (1978) but not mentioned by Huxley, regarding them as Ankylosauria indeterminate and indeterminate respectively. The syntypes are not demonstrably one individual: Huxley inferred association because the specimens "all came from one small area", but the same assemblage yielded the teeth and sclerotic ring of a large ichthyosaur.
Horizon
lower West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation, Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–93.9 million years ago
Locality
East of Copt Point, near Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom Etheridge (1867) placed the remains in the lower part of the Chalk Marl, about eight feet above the Upper Greensand, and fixed them to the lower part of the Grey Chalk series on an associated fauna of some forty species, among them Ammonites varians and Holaster subglobosus.

References

  1. Hopson, P. M. (2005). A stratigraphical framework for the Upper Cretaceous Chalk of England and Scotland, with statements on the Chalk of Northern Ireland and the UK Offshore Sector. British Geological Survey Research Report RR/05/01. British Geological Survey.

    Defines the West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation and names Copt Point among its primary reference sections.

    hopson2005a
  2. Vickaryous, M. K.; Maryańska, T.; Weishampel, D. B. (2004). Ankylosauria. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 363-392. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Lists Acanthopholis horridus and its congeners among the nomina dubia of Ankylosauria.

    vickaryous2004a
  3. Kirkland, J. I.; Alcalá, L.; Loewen, M. A.; Espílez, E.; Mampel, L.; Wiersma, J. P. (2013). The Basal Nodosaurid Ankylosaur Europelta carbonensis n. gen., n. sp. from the Lower Cretaceous (Lower Albian) Escucha Formation of Northeastern Spain. PLoS ONE 8(12): e80405. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080405

    Repeats that Acanthopholis is a nomen dubium and, on that basis, rejects Acanthopholinae in favor of Nopcsa's (1923) Struthiosaurinae, which it defines phylogenetically.

    kirkland2013a
  4. Nopcsa, F. (1923). Die Familien der Reptilien [The families of the reptiles]. Fortschritte der Geologie und Palaeontologie 2: 1-210.

    Lists the family "Acanthopolidae" with the subfamilies Struthiosaurinae and Ankylosaurinae, without comment.

    nopcsa1923a
  5. Barrett, P. M.; Bonsor, J. A. (2020). A revision of the non-avian dinosaurs 'Eucercosaurus tanyspondylus' and 'Syngonosaurus macrocercus' from the Cambridge Greensand, UK. Cretaceous Research 118: 104638. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104638

    Reaffirms that Acanthopholis horridus is a nomen dubium while revising other Cambridge Greensand material.

    barrett2020a
  6. Huxley, T. H. (1867). IV.-On Acanthopholis Horridus, a New Reptile from the Chalk-marl. Geological Magazine 4(32): 65-67. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/s001675680017102x huxley1867a
  7. Pereda-Suberbiola, X.; Barrett, P. M. (1999). A systematic review of ankylosaurian dinosaur remains from the Albian-Cenomanian of England. Special Papers in Palaeontology 60: 177-208.

    Found the A. horridus syntypes to lack unique diagnostic characters, doubted that all belong to one individual, and restricted the type series to the 12 specimens listed by Huxley.

    pereda-suberbiola1999a
  8. Coombs, W. P. Jr. (1978). The families of the ornithischian dinosaur order Ankylosauria. Palaeontology 21(1): 143-170. coombs1978a
  9. Etheridge, R. (1867). V.-On the Stratigraphical Position of Acanthopholis Horridus (Huxley). Geological Magazine 4(32): 67-69. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/s0016756800171031

    Fixes the horizon to the lower Chalk Marl about eight feet above the Upper Greensand, on an associated fauna of some forty species.

    etheridge1867a