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Hypselosaurus

Matheron, 1869 HIP-sel-o-SAWR-us Nomen dubium

From Greek hypsilos (high, lofty) and sauros (lizard); meaning 'highest lizard'

83.6–66.0 million years ago Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Hypselosaurus is a dubious genus of titanosaurian sauropod that lived in southern France during the Late Cretaceous, approximately 70 million years ago in the early Maastrichtian. Hypselosaurus was first described in 1846, but was not formally named until 1869, when Phillip Matheron named it under the binomial Hypselosaurus priscus. The holotype specimen includes a partial hindlimb and a pair of caudal vertebrae, and two eggshell fragments were found alongside these bones. Because of the proximity of these eggshells to the fossil remains, many later authors, including Matheron and Paul Gervais, have assigned several eggs from the same region of France all to Hypselosaurus, although the variation and differences between these eggs suggest that they do not all belong to the same taxon. Hypselosaurus has been found in the same formation as the dromaeosaurids Variraptor and Pyroraptor, the ornithopod Rhabdodon, and the ankylosaurian Rhodanosaurus, as well as indeterminate bones from other groups.

Under dispute

Hypselosaurus priscus is based on non-diagnostic titanosaur material from the Late Cretaceous of Provence and is listed among sauropod nomina dubia (Weishampel and colleagues, 2004); its holotype cannot be reliably distinguished from other sauropods, and eggs long referred to it likely pertain to more than one taxon.

Species

Hypselosaurus priscus Matheron, 1869 Nomen dubium

Type species

From Latin 'priscus' meaning 'ancient' or 'of former times', likely referring to the antiquity of the taxon.

Holotype
Not catalogued , Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (uncatalogued)
Material
Partial hindlimb and caudal vertebrae.
Horizon
Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Rognac, Bouches-du-Rhône, France Matheron (1869) places the holotype in the basal detrital layers of his Rognac stage, beneath its upper limestones. Tortosa and colleagues (2014) date the upper part of the Lower Rognacian to the late Campanian, and Le Loeuff (1993) gives the species as early Maastrichtian in the Aix-en-Provence Basin.

References

  1. Tortosa, T.; Buffetaut, E.; Vialle, N.; Dutour, Y.; Turini, E.; Cheylan, G. (2014). A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of southern France: Palaeobiogeographical implications. Annales de Paléontologie 100(1): 63-86. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.annpal.2013.10.003

    Dates the "upper part of the Lower Rognacian" to the late Campanian, after Cojan and Moreau (2006).

    tortosa2014a
  2. Matheron, P. (1869). Note sur les reptiles fossiles des dépôts fluvio-lacustres crétacés du bassin à lignite de Fuveau [Note on the fossil reptiles from the Cretaceous fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the lignitic Fuveau Basin]. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, series 2 26: 781-795. matheron1869b
  3. Matheron, P. (1869). Notice sur les reptiles fossiles des dépôts fluvio-lacustres crétacés du bassin à lignite de Fuveau [Notice on the fossil reptiles from the Cretaceous fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the lignitic Fuveau Basin]. Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Belles-Lettres, et Arts de Marseille 1868-1869: 345-379.

    The companion memoir, which erects the genus in near-identical terms. Opinion 1483 finds it was still in press when the Bulletin note appeared.

    matheron1869a
  4. Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H. (eds.) (2004). The Dinosauria, Second Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    The Dinosauria (2nd ed.); lists Hypselosaurus priscus among sauropod nomina dubia.

    weishampel2004a
  5. Le Loeuff, J. (1993). European titanosaurids. Revue de Paléobiologie, Volume Spéciale 7: 105-117.

    Revises the type material, giving Rognac as the locality and recording that the material has disappeared.

    leloeuff1993a
  6. Cojan, I.; Moreau, M. G. (2006). Correlation of terrestrial climatic fluctuations with global signals during the Upper Cretaceous-Danian in a compressive setting (Provence, France). Journal of Sedimentary Research 76(3): 589-604. SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology. doi:10.2110/jsr.2006.045

    Frames the Aix-en-Provence Basin's Rognacian units, none of which carries a Gres a Reptiles name.

    cojan2006a