Piveteausaurus
| Piveteausaurus Temporal range: Middle Jurassic
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| Braincase of Piveteausaurus divesensis. | |
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| Genus: | Piveteausaurus |
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Piveteausaurus (meaning "Jean Piveteau's lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur known from a partial skull discovered in the Middle Jurassic Marnes de Dives formation of Calvados, in northern France.
History and description
The partial braincase that became the type specimen of Piveteausaurus was first described in 1923 by French paleontologist Jean Piveteau in illustrations and photographs of the specimen (MNHN 1920-7). The braincase is comparable in size to that of a large Allosaurus.[1] Piveteau grouped this partial skull with other specimens found earlier in that locality by French naturalist Georges Cuvier and described by English paleontologist Richard Owen.[2] Owen assigned the fragments he described to the species Streptospondylus cuvieri, and Piveteau included the skull he found in the same species.[2]
MNHN 1920-7 was found in rocks thought to be Oxfordian (Upper Jurassic), of Vaches Noires near Dives in Normandy, France.[3] Later these rocks were reevaluated as older (Upper Callovian, Middle Jurassic, ~161 million years old).[4]
MNHN 1920-7 was reevaluated in 1964 by Alick Walker as part of his work on Ornithosuchus and the evolution of the Carnosauria.[2] He assigned MNHN 1920-7 to Eustreptospondylus as the holotype, or type specimen, of the new species E. divesensis.[2] The other bone fragments found by Cuvier and attributed to S. cuvieri by Owen were also transferred, as a "matter of convenience," but without conviction on the part of Walker, to the new species, E. divesensis.[2] It was given its own genus in 1977 by Philippe Taquet and Samuel Welles: Piveteausaurus, named after Piveteau. Taquet and Welles removed the postcranial bones, conveniently associated with the skull by Walker, from the species.[5] Later the braincase would be regarded by Gregory S. Paul as a species of Proceratosaurus (P. divesensis),[6] but this assignment was rejected by other researchers.[1][7]
While the braincase appears to be distinct, the limited remains mean Piveteausaurus has not been easy to classify. It has been compared to Ceratosaurus,[8] Eustreptospondylus,[2][7] and Proceratosaurus,[6] and was interpreted as a species of the latter two genera at various times. It is presently regarded as a basal tetanuran of uncertain affinities.[1] Like other basal tetanurans, it would have been a bipedal carnivore.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Holtz, Thomas R., Jr. (2004). Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.) (ed.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 71–110. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f Walker, Alick D. (1964). "Triassic reptiles from the Elgin area: Ornithosuchus and the origin of carnosaurs". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences. 248: 53–134.
- ^ Piveteau, Jean (1923). "L'arrière-crâne d'un dinosaurien carnivore de l'Oxfordien de Dives [The braincase of a carnivorous dinosaur from the Oxfordian of Dives]". Annales de Paléontologie (in French). 12: 115–123.
- ^ Weishampel, David B. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution". In David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson and Halszka Osmólska (eds.) (ed.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 540. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Taquet, Philippe (1977). "Redescription du crâne de dinosaure théropode de Dives (Normandie) [Redescription of a theropod dinosaur skull from Dives (Normandy)]". Annales de Paléontologie (Vertébrés) (in French). 63 (2): 191–206.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthor=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Paul, Gregory S. (1988). Predatory Dinosaurs of the World. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 304–305. ISBN 0-671-61946-2.
- ^ a b Molnar, Ralph E. (1990). "Carnosauria". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; & Osmólska, Halszka (eds.) (ed.). The Dinosauria (First ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 169–209. ISBN 0-520-06727-4.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - ^ Bakker, Robert T. (1992). "Edmarka rex, a new, gigantic theropod dinosaur from the middle Morrison Formation, Late Jurassic of the Como Bluff outcrop region". Hunteria. 2: 1–24.
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General references
- Glut, Donald F. (1997). "Piveteausaurus". Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. pp. 706–707. ISBN 0-89950-917-7.
External links
- Piveteausaurus in the Theropod Database
- Piveteausaurus in the Paleobiology Database
