Open Paleo

Eucercosaurus

Seeley, 1879 Nomen dubium

From Greek 'eu' ('good'), 'kerkos' ('tail') and 'sauros' ('lizard'); meaning 'good-tailed lizard'.

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

Eucercosaurus is the name given to a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous. It was an ornithopod discovered in the Cambridge Greensand of England and is known from 19 centra, 3 sacrals, 4 dorsals and 12 caudals, and a neural arch found near Trumpington, Cambridgeshire. The type species, E. tanyspondylus, was described by British paleontologist Harry Seeley in 1879.

Species

Eucercosaurus tanyspondylus Seeley, 1879 Nomen dubium

Type species

Syntypes
CAMSM B55610, CAMSM B55611, CAMSM B55612, CAMSM B55613, CAMSM B55614, CAMSM B55615, CAMSM B55616, CAMSM B55617, CAMSM B55618, CAMSM B55619, CAMSM B55620, CAMSM B55621, CAMSM B55622, CAMSM B55623, CAMSM B55624, CAMSM B55625, CAMSM B55626, CAMSM B55627, CAMSM B55628, CAMSM B55629 , Sedgwick Museum, University of Cambridge
Material
Associated series of nineteen vertebrae, comprising four dorsals, three sacrals and twelve caudals, together with a dorsal neural arch.
Notes
The remains come from the Cambridge Greensand but are reworked from the underlying Gault Formation, so the animal is of Albian age although the bed containing it is Cenomanian.
Horizon
Cambridge Greensand Member, West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation, Albian, Early Cretaceous , 113.2–100.5 million years ago The age of the older beds the specimen was reworked from.
Locality
Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom Barrett and colleagues (2020) record that the Cambridge Greensand's tetrapods are "largely reworked from the underlying Gault Formation (upper Albian)", so the type takes the Albian of the Gault while the member it was found in is Cenomanian.

References

  1. Seeley, H. G. (1879). On the Dinosauria of the Cambridge Greensand. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 35(1-4): 591-636. Geological Society of London. doi:10.1144/gsl.jgs.1879.035.01-04.42

    Erects the genus on an associated vertebral series from Trumpington, near Cambridge.

    seeley1879a
  2. 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

    Redescribes the material, finds no diagnostic features, and treats the name as a nomen dubium representing an indeterminate iguanodontian.

    barrett2020a
  3. 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 the species among ankylosaurian nomina dubia, the placement later overturned.

    vickaryous2004a
  4. Olshevsky, G. (1991). A revision of the parainfraclass Archosauria Cope, 1869, excluding the advanced Crocodylia. Mesozoic Meanderings 2: 1-196.

    Lists the genus under Anoplosaurus.

    olshevsky1991a