In Depth
Known from the late Cretaceous period of Europe, Betasuchus was originally known as a species of Megalosaurus, the first genus of dinosaur, and theropod to be named which saw it being treated as a ‘wastebasket’ for all future theropod remains until more in depth study into dinosaurs began to be conducted. This classification continued until Fredrich von Huene studied the fossil and found it was a different genus to Megalosaurus (a fate that would carry through to most of the fossils that were at one time attributed to Megalosaurus). von Huene however thought that the bone belonged to an ornithomimosaurid dinosaur and since this was the second specimen that he was moving to the Ornithomimidae he named it Betasuchus in reference to it being the ‘B’ specimen.
The above classification continued for some time with others including Dale Russel confirming the placement in 1972. However in 1991 Jean le Loeuff and Eric Buffetaut declared the specimen to be an abelisaurid dinosaur, the same year that they named another abelisaurid called Tarascosaurus, although also from scant fossil material. This definition was based upon similarities in the femur to that of Carnotaurus, a large abelisaurid from South America. The problem with this classification is that as a group the abelisaurs were only known from southern continents like South America and Africa, something which today concludes some palaeontologists to disagree with this classification. An even later study in 1997 by Carpenter, Russell and Baird concluded that Betasuchus is related to the tyrannosaurid Dryptosaurus, itself only known from incomplete fossil remains.
Further Reading
– Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte. – Monogr. Geol. Palaeontol. (Pt. I and II, Ser. I) 4, 1-361. – Von Huene – 1932.
