Open Paleo

Velocipes

Huene, 1932 veh-LOH-sih-pez Nomen dubium

From Latin 'velox' meaning 'swift' and 'pes' meaning 'foot', translating as 'quick foot'.

227.3–205.7 million years ago Norian, Late Triassic
Late Triassic stages

Velocipes is a genus of saurischian dinosaur from the Late Triassic that may have been a theropod. Its fossils were found in the Norian-aged Lissauer Breccia of southern Poland. Upon discovery, Velocipes was thought to have been a coelurosaur, but more recent studies have shown that Velocipes was probably a basal theropod or dinosauriform.

Under dispute

Velocipes guerichi is a nomen dubium based on the proximal part of a fibula. Rauhut and Hungerbühler (2000) judged the specimen too poorly preserved to establish even what bone it is, and treated it as an indeterminate vertebrate; Welles (1984) had earlier found the holotype undiagnostic. Skawiński and colleagues (2017) re-examined the specimen, reaffirmed its identification as a theropod fibula against that view, and argued it preserves phylogenetically informative characters, but concluded that it cannot be identified more precisely than an indeterminate theropod and offered no diagnosis. Earlier referrals to Ceratosauria (Tykoski and Rowe, 2004; Weishampel and colleagues, 2004) are not supported by that re-examination.

Species

Velocipes guerichi Huene, 1932 Nomen dubium

Type species

Named for Georg Gürich, who discovered the fossil material in the Lissauer Breccia of southern Poland around 1884.

Holotype
GPIM UH 252 , Geological-Paleontological Institute and Museum
Material
Proximal half of a left fibula.
Horizon
Norian, Late Triassic , 227.3–205.7 million years ago
Locality
Kocury, Opole Voivodeship, Poland Huene (1932) took the holotype from the Lissauer Breccia at Kocury, an informal name for a set of breccia horizons at several stratigraphic levels rather than a single erected unit; Skawiński and colleagues (2017) call it the Lisów Breccia and reach no formal name for it either. They print the position to the whole minute, "50° 46′ N, 18° 26′ E", in a sentence naming both the forester's lodge, which the holotype's label gives as the locality, and an old clay pit about 200 m north-east of it, where they trace the conglomerate on the bone. The two lie well within the precision of the pair.

References

  1. 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. huene1932a
  2. Skawiński, T.; Ziegler, M.; Czepiński, Ł.; Szermański, M.; Tałanda, M.; Surmik, D.; Niedźwiedzki, G. (2017). A re-evaluation of the historical dinosaur remains from the Middle-Upper Triassic of Poland. Historical Biology 29(4): 442-472. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/08912963.2016.1188385

    Recovered Velocipes as a basal neotheropod (Theropoda indet.), reaffirming its theropod affinity.

    skawiński2017a
  3. Rauhut, O. W. M.; Hungerbühler, A. (2000). A review of European Triassic theropods. Gaia 15: 75-88.

    Gaia 15 carries the date 1998 but appeared in 2000, so the paper is cited under both years; Carrano and Sampson (2004) give it as "1998 [2000]".

    rauhut2000a
  4. Welles, S. P. (1984). Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda): osteology and comparisons. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 185: 85-180. welles1984a
  5. Tykoski, R. S.; Rowe, T. (2004). Ceratosauria. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 47-70. University of California Press, Berkeley. tykoski2004a
  6. Weishampel, D. B.; Barrett, P. M.; Coria, R. A.; Le Loeuff, J.; Xu, X.; Zhao, X.; Sahni, A.; Gomani, E. M. P.; Noto, C. R. (2004). Dinosaur distribution. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 517-606. University of California Press, Berkeley. doi:10.1525/california/9780520242098.003.0027 weishampel2004b