Altispinax
| Altispinax | ||||||||||||
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Tooth of Altispinax dunkeri |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Lower Cretaceous | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Altispinax | ||||||||||||
| von Huehne , 1923 | ||||||||||||
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Altispinax (= "high thorn") is a genus of the Spinosauridae that was first described by Dames on the basis of a single tooth as Megalosaurus dunkeri . Due to the scarce fossil material, Altispinax is now considered the noun dubium and is therefore not scientifically recognized.
Controversy over the description
Friedrich von Huene placed this species in the genus Altispinax newly created by him in 1923 as Altispinax dunkeri , referring to the vertebrae , which were also assigned to this species and were characterized by long thorns. The latter were found and described in England in 1884 by a collector named Samuel H. Beckles . According to today's view, however, these did not belong to this species, but to a Carnosauria , which was described accordingly in 1991 by George Olshevsky and named after the fossil collector as Becklespinax . Other fossil finds that were also assigned to Altispinax are now assigned to other species, including Baryonyx , Metriacanthosaurus and Valdoraptor .
Web links
- Mail from the Dinosaur Mailing List Archive, Feb 18, 1997 , clearly outlining the entire problem.
- Portrait of Becklespinax altispinax ( Memento from March 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )