Liliensternus
| Liliensternus Temporal range: Late Triassic, 205 Ma |
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| Skeleton restoration | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Superfamily: | Coelophysoidea |
| Genus: | Liliensternus Welles, 1984 |
| Species | |
Liliensternus (meaning "Rühle von Lilienstern's one") was a genus of coelophysoid dinosaur from the Late Triassic period, about 205 Ma.
Liliensternus was originally named in 1934 by Friedrich von Huene as a second species of Halticosaurus, H. liliensterni, the specific name honouring the German amateur paleontologist, Dr. Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern, who in 1922 and 1923 had found the remains near Großen Gleichberg in Germany's Trossingen Formation (late Norian).[1] The naming was occasioned by the opening on 1 July 1934 of a paleontological museum at Count Rühle von Lilienstern's castle at Bedheim, where the fossils remained until 1969 when they were transferred to the Humboldt Museum in Berlin.
In 1984 Samuel Paul Welles concluded that the type species of Halticosaurus, H. longotarsus, was a nomen dubium. Most what had been written in the literature about Halticosaurus in fact regarded H. liliensterni. Welles therefore named a separate genus: Liliensternus, the name again honouring Rühle von Lilienstern.[2] The type species is Liliensternus liliensterni. A second species named in 1993 for remains found in France, Liliensternus airelensis, which had an extra pair of cervical pleurocoels, has in 2007 been renamed a separate genus, Lophostropheus.[3]
The remains, together forming a syntype series with inventory number MB.R.2175, consist of the partial and fragmentary skeletons of at least two individuals, containing elements of the skull, the lower jaws, the vertebrae and the appendicular skeleton.
Liliensternus was approximately 5.15 m (17 ft) long, and may have weighed about 127 kg (280 lb).[4] It might have preyed on herbivores like Plateosaurus.
Originally assigned to the Halticosauridae, Liliensternus is today considered a basal member of the Coelophysoidea.
[edit] References
- ^ F. v. Huene, 1934, "Ein neuer Coelurosaurier in der thüringischen Trias", Paläontologische Zeitschrift 16(3/4): 145-170
- ^ S.P. Welles, 1984, "Dilophosaurus wetherilli (Dinosauria, Theropoda): osteology and comparisons", Palaeontographica Abteilung A 185: 85-180
- ^ Ezcurra, M.D, and Cuny, G. (2007). "The coelophysoid Lophostropheus airelensis, gen. nov.: a review of the systematics of "Liliensternus" airelensis from the Triassic-Jurassic boundary outcrops of Normandy (France)." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27(1): 73-86.
- ^ Paul, Gregory S. (1988). Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. Simon & Schuster. p. 267. ISBN 0-671-61946-2.
- ^ http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/b/bedheim.htm
[edit] External links
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