Agrosaurus
From Greek agros ('field') and sauros ('lizard'), meaning 'field lizard'
Agrosaurus is a potentially dubious genus of thecodontosaurid sauropodomorph probably originating from the Magnesian Conglomerate of England that was originally believed to be a Triassic prosauropod from Australia. Agrosaurus would thus be the oldest dinosaur from that country. However, this appears to have been an error, and the material actually appears to come from Thecodontosaurus or a Thecodontosaurus-like animal from Bristol, England (Avon Fissure Fill). The type species is Agrosaurus macgillivrayi.
Species
Agrosaurus macgillivrayi Seeley, 1891 Nomen dubium
Type species
Honors John MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist on HMS Fly, who collected the material attributed to the species.
- Holotype
- BMNH 49984 , Natural History Museum
- Material
- Complete left tibia, proximal end of right tibia, fragment of fibula, and two laterally compressed claw-phalanges in matrix
- Horizon
- Rhaetian, Late Triassic , 205.7–201.4 million years ago
- Locality
- Durdham Down, Clifton, Bristol, City of Bristol, United Kingdom The locality is the later of two published readings rather than the erecting paper's. Galton (2007) reports the material as long equated with the Magnesian Conglomerate, which crops out nearby, rather than demonstrated to come from it; Weishampel and colleagues (2004) name no unit and give the locality only as Avon.
References
-
Seeley, H. G. (1891). On Agrosaurus Macgillivrayi (Seeley), a Saurischian Reptile from the N.E. Coast of Australia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 47(1-4): 164-165. Geological Society of London. doi:10.1144/gsl.jgs.1891.047.01-04.14
Records the type material only from a label reading "Fly, 1844. Jn. Macgillivray, from the N.E. coast of Australia", from a locality the author states was then unnamed.
seeley1891a -
Galton, P. M. (2007). Notes on the remains of archosaurian reptiles, mostly basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, from the 1834 fissure fill (Rhaetian, Upper Triassic) at Clifton in Bristol, southwest England. Revue de Paléobiologie 26(2): 505-591.
Traces the type material to Durdham Down, Clifton, rather than the northeastern coast of Australia, following Vickers-Rich and colleagues (1999), and refers it to Thecodontosaurus antiquus.
galton2007a - Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H. (eds.) (2004). The Dinosauria, Second Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley. weishampel2004a
- Vickers-Rich, P.; Rich, T. H.; McNamara, G. C.; Milner, A. (1999). Is Agrosaurus macgillivrayi Australia's oldest dinosaur?. Records of the Western Australian Museum 191-200. vickers-rich1999a