Open Paleo

Altispinax

Huene, 1923 AL-ti-SPIEN-aks /ˌæltɪˈspaɪnæks/

From Latin 'altus' meaning 'high' and 'spina' meaning 'spine' or 'thorn', combined with Latin 'ax' (sharp), meaning 'with high spines', referring to its tall vertebral spines.

137.1–132.6 million years ago Valanginian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Altispinax is a genus of large predatory theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous period (Valanginian, 140 to 133 million years ago) of what is now the Wadhurst Clay Formation of East Sussex, England.

Under dispute

Carrano and colleagues (2012) exclude the vertebrae from Spinosauridae, to which earlier workers had referred them, and from Carcharodontosauridae, and place them no more precisely than Tetanurae. Naish (2003) regards them as an allosauroid pending further work, Maisch (2016) refers the genus questionably to Carcharodontosauridae for its similarity to Concavenator, and Morrison and colleagues (2026) call the material a possible carcharodontosaurian. None of these rests on a phylogenetic analysis, so the genus is placed at Tetanurae incertae sedis.

Diagnosis

  1. Enormously high neural spines in the dorsal region, distinguishing it from Megalosaurus and justifying the genus name Altispinax (high-spined)
  2. Longest posterior dorsal neural spines at least five times the height of the centrum and distinctly constricted just above the neural arch
  3. Posterior dorsal neural spines possibly forming a short sail in front of the hip

Species

Altispinax dunkeri Huene, 1923

Type species

Named by Dames for Wilhelm Dunker, monographer of the North German Wealden, who lent him the tooth on which he founded Megalosaurus dunkeri.

Holotype
NHMUK PV R 1828 , Natural History Museum
Material
Three articulated, nearly complete posterior dorsal vertebrae, probably the ninth to eleventh or tenth to twelfth, with very tall neural spines
Horizon
Hastings Beds Group, Valanginian, Early Cretaceous , 137.1–132.6 million years ago
Locality
Battle, near Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom

Synonyms

  • Becklespinax junior objective

    Based on the same vertebrae as Altispinax dunkeri, making it a junior objective synonym.

References

  1. Huene, F. V. (1926). On several known and unknown reptiles of the order Saurischia from England and France. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 9 17: 473-489. doi:10.1080/00222932608633437

    Gives the specimen as "from the Wealden of Battle, near Hastings, Sussex".

    huene1926a
  2. Dames, W. B. (1885). Vorlegung eines Zahnes von Megalosaurus aus den Wealden des Deisters. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 36: 186-188.

    Jahrbuch 1884; in German. Original description of Megalosaurus dunkeri, reassigned to the new genus Altispinax by Huene (1923).

    dames1885a
  3. Huene, F. V. (1923). Carnivorous Saurischia in Europe since the Triassic. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 34: 449-458. doi:10.1130/gsab-34-449 huene1923a
  4. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.

    jones2026c
  5. Carrano, M. T.; Benson, R. B. J.; Sampson, S. D. (2012). The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2): 211-300. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.630927

    Places the vertebrae no more precisely than Tetanurae, excluding them from Spinosauridae and Carcharodontosauridae; treats them under the name Becklespinax altispinax.

    carrano2012a
  6. Naish, D. (2003). A definitive allosauroid (Dinosauria; Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of East Sussex. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 114(4): 319-326. doi:10.1016/S0016-7878(03)80032-9

    Regards the vertebrae as an allosauroid pending further work, and suggests a large Hastings tibia might belong to the same animal.

    naish2003a
  7. Owen, R. (1855). Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck Formations. Part II. Dinosauria (Iguanodon) (Wealden). Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society 8(27): 1-54. doi:10.1080/02693445.1854.12113208

    Figures the vertebrae as Megalosaurus bucklandii, from the Wealden near Battle (pl. XIX).

    owen1855a
  8. Owen, R. (1856). Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden Formations. Part III. Megalosaurus bucklandi. Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society 9(34): 1-26. doi:10.1080/02693445.1857.12023335

    Describes the vertebrae, found by Beckles in a nodule of ferruginous clay in the Wealden at Battle.

    owen1856a
  9. Lydekker, R. (1888). Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I. British Museum (Natural History), London 1-309.

    Compares a vertebra from the Wadhurst Clay near Hastings with "the three vertebrae from Battle figured by Owen".

    lydekker1888a
  10. Maisch, M. W. (2016). The nomenclatural status of the carnivorous dinosaur genus Altispinax v. Huene, 1923 (Saurischia, Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of England. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 280(2): 215-219. doi:10.1127/njgpa/2016/0576

    Argues under ICZN Art. 11.10 that Altispinax dunkeri v. Huene, 1923 names the vertebrae, with Becklespinax a junior objective synonym; refers the genus questionably to Carcharodontosauridae.

    maisch2016a
  11. Morrison, C.; Scherer, C. R.; Mannion, P.; Porro, L. B.; Clark, B.; Folkes, D. D.; Barrett, P. M. (2026). A new megaraptoran dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation, UK, and its implications for theropod evolution and biogeography. Royal Society Open Science 13(10): 260937. The Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsos.260937

    Calls the Wealden vertebrae a possible carcharodontosaurian.

    morrison2026a