#teinurosaurus

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Teinurosaurus sauvagei

By Ripley Cook

Etymology: Extended Tail Reptile

First Described By: Nopcsa, 1928

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Probably sometime in the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic, sometime between 152.1 and 145 million years ago. 

Teinurosaurus is known from the Mont-Lambert Formation of Nord Pas de Calais, France. 

Physical Description: Teinurosaurus was named off of a single vertebra that has since been destroyed. That vertebra was from the tail, and fairly small, so it’s not really useful in saying anything about this dinosaur. As a theropod, it would have been bipedal; anything beyond that in terms of form, specializations, and appearance, is difficult to say. It probably would have had feathers, though that is also a question given we know almost nothing about this dinosaur.

Diet: Probably meat

Behavior: Unknown

Ecosystem: Teinurosaurus lived in a Late Jurassic ecosystem in France, which at the time was part of a tropical island system in Europe, scattered in shallow water. This Mont-Lambert Formation had other dinosaurs, though they’re poorly known - Iguanodonts, Megalosaurids, and potentially even Sauropods are known from the area, as well as marine reptiles. The skeleton of Teinurosaurus probably washed out to sea, which lead to its preservation.

Other: Teinurosaurus was originally misreported as being from Portugal because its description happened to be buried in a book describing a bunch of dinosaurs from Portugal; however, it was actually from France. It has a complex taxonomic history, which is fun, because it is a poorly known dinosaur named off of a single vertebra that was lost.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources under the cut 

Galton, P. M., H. P. Powell. 1980. The Ornithischian Dinosaur Camptosaurus prestwichii from the Upper Jurassic of England. Palaeontology 23 (2): 411 - 443.

Nopcsa, F. 1928. The Genera of Reptiles. Palaeobiol 1: 163 - 188.

Nopcsa, F. 1929. Addendum ‘The Genera of Reptiles’. Palaeobiol 1: 201.

Olshevsky, G. 1978. The Archosaurian Taxa (Excluding the Crocodylia). Mesozoic Meanderings 1: 1 - 50.

Sauvage, H.-E. 1888. On the Reptiles Found in the Upper Portlandian of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 3e 16: 623 - 632.

Von Huene, F. 1932. The Fossil Reptile Order Saurischia, their Development and History. Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, serie 1 4 (1-2): 1 - 361.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Teinurosaurus sauvagei

Source: http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120831192910/dinosaurs/images/1/11/Teinurosaurus-unknown.jpg

Name: Teinurosaurus sauvagei

Name Meaning: Sauvage's Extended Tail Lizard

First Described: 1928

Described By: Nopcsa

Classification: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, [Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria?]

Teinurosaurus is a theropod of a dubious validity, given that it is only known from a signle caudal vertebra that has now been destroyed. It was found in Portugal and lived in the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic, between 157 and 152 million years ago. It was originally described as an iguanodont in 1897 but then was reassigned as a theropod in 1928. It was also briefly mistaken as being a renaming of Saurornithoides due to a typographic error. It has also been named as Caudocoelus however Teinurosaurus was eventually dubbed the valid genus. Since the original remains no longer exist it is a nomen dubium, and little is known about it. Potenitally it was about 8.8 meters long, but again, more bones need to be discovered prior to any definitive statements about the animal.

Sources:

http://dinosaurs.wikia.com/wiki/Teinurosaurus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teinurosaurus

 Shout out goes to theserberysfire!