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Erectopus

Huene, 1923 ee-REK-toe-puss

From Latin 'erectus' (upright) and Greek 'pous' (foot); meaning 'upright foot', a reference to the posture of the original syntype foot bones described by Sauvage (1882).

113.2–100.5 million years ago Albian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Erectopus is an extinct genus of basal allosauroid theropod from the Albian phosphate-bearing beds (La Penthièvre Formation) of Louppy-le- Château in the Argonne region of north-eastern France. The type and only species, Erectopus superbus, was originally named Megalosaurus superbus by Sauvage in 1882, transferred to the new genus Erectopus by von Huene in 1923, and subsequently split by Huene into a second species E. sauvagei in 1932. All of Sauvage's original syntypes were destroyed at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle during World War II; Allain (2005) recovered an associated maxilla in a Parisian fossil collection in the late 1990s, designated it the lectotype (MNHN 2001-4), and synonymized E. sauvagei into E. superbus.

Under dispute

Erectopus superbus is known from a lectotype maxilla and lost syntypes, and its affinities are only broadly constrained. It is regarded as an allosauroid (Allain, 2005), and Carrano, Benson and Sampson (2012) suggested it may be a metriacanthosaurid but listed no shared characters; other analyses treat it as an unstable taxon of uncertain position (Cau, 2024). It is placed conservatively at Allosauroidea incertae sedis.

Diagnosis

  1. Rounded anterior ramus of maxilla
  2. Slender neck of femur
  3. Posterior curvature of proximal half of femur
  4. Anterodorsal edge of calcaneum dorsally projected
  5. Calcaneum anteroposterior length twice its median vertical depth
  6. Lateral margin of proximal end of second metatarsal regularly concave along entire length

Species

Erectopus superbus (Sauvage, 1882)

Type species

First named as Megalosaurus superbus

From Latin 'superbus' (proud, magnificent); a name proposed by Sauvage (1882) when the species was originally combined with Megalosaurus.

Lectotype
MNHN 2001-4 , Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
Material
Anterior part of the left maxilla.
Notes
Sauvage's original syntypes (femur, tibia, metatarsal II, manual phalanges, dorsal centra) were destroyed at the MNHN during World War II.
Horizon
Albian, Early Cretaceous , 113.2–100.5 million years ago
Locality
Louppy-le-Château, Meuse, France Allain (2005) gives the horizon as the "Phosphate-bearing beds of La Penthiève, Mammilatum Zone, Lower Cretaceous, lower Albian".

Synonyms

  • Erectopus sauvagei junior subjective

    Named by Huene (1932) for the bones Sauvage (1882) described, leaving the name superbus with the teeth; Allain (2005) synonymized it with E. superbus and designated the maxilla MNHN 2001-4 as the lectotype of the senior name.

  • Megalosaurus superbus reassigned

    Original combination by Sauvage (1882); transferred to the new genus Erectopus by von Huene (1923).

References

  1. 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
  2. Allain, R. (2005). The enigmatic theropod dinosaur Erectopus superbus (Sauvage 1882) from the Lower Albian of Louppy-le-Château (Argonne, France). The Carnivorous Dinosaurs (Carpenter, K., ed.) 72-86. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

    Redescription based on a maxilla recovered in a Paris fossil collection (Sauvage's syntypes lost in WWII); designated MNHN 2001-4 lectotype and synonymized Erectopus sauvagei Huene, 1932.

    allain2005b
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Theropods. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length estimate.

    jones2026c
  4. Cau, A. (2024). A Unified Framework for Predatory Dinosaur Macroevolution. Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana 63(1): 1-19. doi:10.4435/BSPI.2024.08

    Recovered Erectopus as an unstable taxon of uncertain position.

    cau2024a
  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

    Suggested Erectopus may be a metriacanthosaurid but found no shared characters.

    carrano2012a
  6. Huene, F. V. (1932). Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte [The fossil reptile order Saurischia, their development and history]. Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, serie 1 4(1-2): 1-361.

    Names Erectopus sauvagei for the bones Sauvage (1882) described.

    huene1932a
  7. Sauvage, H. E. (1882). Recherches sur les reptiles trouvés dans le Gault de l'est du bassin de Paris [Researches on the reptiles found in the Gault of the eastern Paris Basin]. Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France 2(4): 1-42. sauvage1882a