Open Paleo

Teinurosaurus

Nopcsa, 1928 tie-NOOR-o-SOR-us Nomen dubium

From Greek 'teinein' meaning 'to stretch' and 'oura' meaning 'tail', combined with Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard', likely referring to an elongated tail vertebra.

154.8–149.2 million years ago Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic
Late Jurassic stages

Teinurosaurus is a genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic in what is now France. The type species is Teinurosaurus sauvagei. It has been estimated to be 11.4 m (37 ft) in length and 3.6 t (4.0 short tons) in weight.

Species

Teinurosaurus sauvagei (Huene, 1932) Nomen dubium

Type species

First named as Caudocoelus sauvagei

Named for Henri-Émile Sauvage, the French paleontologist who first described the tail vertebra in 1897.

Holotype
BHN2R 240 (unknown)
Material
Distal caudal vertebra.
Notes
Often reported as destroyed during the Second World War, but the vertebra is extant, as noted by Buffetaut and colleagues (1991). It was held by the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Boulogne-sur-Mer, which closed in 2003, and its present repository is unrecorded.
Horizon
Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic , 154.8–149.2 million years ago
Locality
Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France Huene (1932) gives the vertebra as "aus dem oberen Malm der Gegend von Boulogne-sur-mer" (from the upper Malm of the Boulogne-sur-mer area, translated), and his figure caption as "aus dem Kimmeridge von Boulogne-sur-mer. Nach Sauvage" (from the Kimmeridge of Boulogne-sur-mer, after Sauvage, translated).

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Caudocoelus junior objective Coined by Huene (1932) as Caudocoelus sauvagei for the same distal caudal vertebra Nopcsa (1928) had already named Teinurosaurus; Teinurosaurus has priority and Caudocoelus is now treated as a junior objective synonym following Ostrom's 1969 review.

References

  1. Nopcsa, B. F. (1928). The genera of reptiles. Palaeobiologica 1: 163-188.

    Introduces the name in a classification of reptile genera, without a description, a horizon or a locality.

    nopcsa1928c
  2. 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 Caudocoelus sauvagei for the same vertebra already designated Teinurosaurus by Nopcsa (1928), so a junior objective synonym. Gives it as from the Kimmeridge of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

    huene1932a
  3. Buffetaut, E.; Cuny, G.; Le Loeuff, J. (1991). French dinosaurs: the best record in Europe?. Modern Geology 16(1-2): 17-42. buffetaut1991a
  4. Holtz, T. R.; Molnar, R. E.; Currie, P. J. (2004). Basal Tetanurae. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 71-110. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Lists Teinurosaurus sauvagei, the type of Caudocoelus, among the nomina dubia of basal tetanurans.

    holtz2004a
  5. Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H. (eds.) (2004). The Dinosauria, Second Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Lists Teinurosaurus sauvagei as Theropoda indet. in the Boulogne- sur-Mer fauna.

    weishampel2004a