Open Paleo

Lexovisaurus

Hoffstetter, 1957 lek-SOH-vi-SOR-us Nomen dubium

From the Lexovii (a Gallic people who inhabited the region of present-day Lisieux in Normandy, where Hoffstetter's French stegosaurine specimens were found) and Greek 'sauros' (lizard).

165.3–161.5 million years ago Callovian, Middle Jurassic
Middle Jurassic stages

Lexovisaurus is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaur known from limb bones and armor fragments from Middle to Late Jurassic-aged strata of Europe.

Species

Lexovisaurus durobrivensis (Hulke, 1887) Nomen dubium

Type species

First named as Omosaurus durobrivensis

From Durobrivae (the Roman name for the area around Water Newton near Peterborough), referring to the provenance of the type material from the Lower Oxford Clay of nearby Fletton.

Holotype
BMNH R1989, BMNH R1990, BMNH R1991, BMNH R1992 , Natural History Museum
Material
Partial sacrum, partial right ilium, left femur, partial metatarsal, and phalanx. Maidment and colleagues (2008) concluded that this material bears no unique characters and treated the species as a nomen dubium.
Horizon
Peterborough Member, Oxford Clay Formation, Callovian, Middle Jurassic , 165.3–161.5 million years ago
Locality
Fletton, City of Peterborough, United Kingdom

Synonyms

  • Omosaurus durobrivensis reassigned

    Original combination established by Hulke (1887) for BMNH R1989-R1992 from the Lower Oxford Clay of Fletton. Omosaurus Owen, 1875 was later found to be preoccupied (by Omosaurus Leidy, 1856) and the species was first moved to the genus Dacentrurus Lucas (1902) by Hennig (1915) and then to the new genus Lexovisaurus by Hoffstetter (1957).

References

  1. Hulke, J. W. (1887). Note on some dinosaurian remains in the collection of A. Leeds, Esq, of Eyebury, Northamptonshire. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 43: 695-702.

    Original description of the type material as Omosaurus durobrivensis, the species that Hoffstetter (1957) later transferred to the new genus Lexovisaurus.

    hulke1887a
  2. Hoffstetter, R.; Brun, R. (1956). Un Dinosaurien Stégosauridé dans le Callovien du Calvados [A stegosaurid dinosaur in the Callovian of Calvados]. Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 243: 1651-1653.

    Short note announcing French Callovian stegosaurine material from Calvados, Normandy, used by Hoffstetter the following year to erect Lexovisaurus.

    hoffstetter1956a
  3. Hoffstetter, R. (1957). Quelques observations sur les Stégosaurinés [Some Observations on the Stegosaurinae]. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 2nde série 29: 537-547.

    Erects Lexovisaurus as a new genus with type species Lexovisaurus durobrivensis (Hulke, 1887), bringing together the English Fletton type material and French Normandy referred material.

    hoffstetter1957a
  4. Maidment, S. C. R.; Norman, D. B.; Barrett, P. M.; Upchurch, P. (2008). Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6(4): 367-407. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1017/S1477201908002459

    Declares L. durobrivensis a nomen dubium after refuting Galton's proposed autapomorphies, and erects the new genus Loricatosaurus priscus for BMNH R3167 (previously referred to Lexovisaurus).

    maidment2008a
  5. Barron, A. J. M.; Lott, G. K.; Riding, J. B. (2012). Stratigraphical framework for the Middle Jurassic strata of Great Britain and the adjoining continental shelf. British Geological Survey Research Report RR/11/06. British Geological Survey.

    Gives the Peterborough Member as the Lower Oxford Clay of traditional usage, the interval this taxon's descriptions name. It does not itself discuss Lexovisaurus.

    barron2012a
  6. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length and mass estimates, and the appearance features.

    paul2024a
  7. Owen, R. (1875). Monographs on the fossil Reptilia of the Mesozoic formations. Part II (Genera Bothriospondylus, Cetiosaurus, Omosaurus). 15-93. Printed for the Palaeontographical Society.

    Named Omosaurus, the preoccupied genus later replaced for Lexovisaurus material.

    owen1875a
  8. Nopcsa, F. (1911). Notes on British dinosaurs. Part IV: Stegosaurus priscus, sp. nov. Geological Magazine 8(3): 109-115. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/S0016756800110714

    Erected Stegosaurus priscus, later associated with Lexovisaurus.

    nopcsa1911b
  9. Nopcsa, F. (1911). Notes on British dinosaurs. Part IV: Stegosaurus priscus, sp. nov. Geological Magazine 8(4): 145-153. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/S0016756800110854 nopcsa1911a
  10. Leidy, J. (1856). Notice of remains of extinct vertebrated animals discovered by Professor E. Emmons. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 8: 255-257.

    Named the reptile Omosaurus, the senior homonym that preoccupies the dinosaur Omosaurus of Owen.

    leidy1856c
  11. Lucas, F. A. (1902). Paleontological notes. The generic name Omosaurus. A new generic name for Stegosaurus marshi. Science, new series 16(402): 435. doi:10.1126/science.16.402.435

    Erected the replacement genus Dacentrurus for the preoccupied Omosaurus of Owen.

    lucas1902a
  12. Hennig, E. (1915). Stegosauria. Fossilium Catalogus I: Animalia, pars 9 1-16. W. Junk, Berlin.

    Moved most remaining Omosaurus species, including durobrivensis, into Dacentrurus.

    hennig1915b