Lexovisaurus
Name:
Lexovisaurus
(Lexovii lizard).
Phonetic: Leks-o-ve-sore-us.
Named By: Robert Hoffstetter - 1957.
Synonyms: Omosaurus durobrivensis ,
Dacentrurus durobrivensis.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Thyreophora, Stegosauria.
Species: L. durobrivensis
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain but possibly about 5 to 6
meters long.
Known locations: England - Oxford Clay
Formation. Possibly France and Germany.
Time period: Mid to Late Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Holotype consists of partial
post cranial skeletal remains including vertebrae and a spike. More
individuals and fossils may exist, but assignment is uncertain at
this time.
Like
with many dinosaurs named from English fossils in the nineteenth
century, Lexovisaurus has a complex taxonomic
history, but it can
be broken down like this. Current fossils of Lexovisaurus
were
originally described in 1887as Omosaurus a genus
that had different
species. However it was later realised that the name Omosaurus
was
preoccupied, so the fossils of the dinosaur were named as Dacentrurus
in 1915. Then in 1957 a French palaeontologist by the name of
Robert Hoffstetter renamed fossils of one species, D.
durobrivensis, as a new genus, Lexovisaurus.
At
the time of writing Lexovisaurus is only known from
scattered post
cranial skeletal fossils which include vertebrae and a large spike that
is currently of uncertain placement. Because of this lack of fossils
in the holotype, the exact shape and arrangement of the spikes and
plates on the back and tail of Lexovisaurus is
unknown, with
reconstructions based upon the arrangements of those that appear in
other stegosaurid
genera. However additional specimens from England
and France however may indicate that Lexovisaurus
had low plates on
the forwards half of the body, and rounded spines on the rear half,
but there is still some contention amongst palaeontologists as to if
these represent additional specimens of Lexovisaurus.
Further reading
- Note on some dinosaurian remains in the collection of A. Leeds,
Esq, of Eyebury, Northamptonshire. - Quarterly Journal of the
Geological Society 43: 695-702. - J. W. Hulke - 1887.
- Un Dinosaurien St�gosaurid� dans le Callovien du Calvados. -
Comptes Rendus de l'Acad�mie des Sciences, 243: 1651-1653. -R.
Hoffstetter & R. Brun - 1956.
- Quelques observations sur les St�gosaurin�s. - Bulletin du
Mus�um National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 2nde s�rie 29:
537-547. - Richard Hoffstetter - 1957.
- Skeleton of the stegosaurian dinosaur Lexovisaurus
from the lower
part of the Middle Callovian (Middle Jurassic) of Argences
(Calvados), Normandy. - Bulletin de la Soci�t� g�ologique de
Normandie 67: 39–53. - P.M. Galton, R. Brun &
M. Rioult - 1980.
- Stegosaurian dinosaurs from the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of
England, the earliest record of the family Stegosauridae. -
Geobios, 16: 219–229. - P. M. Galton & H.
P. Powell - 1983.
- Dinosaurs of Great Britain and the role of the Geological Society
of London in their discovery: Ornithischia. - Journal of the
Geological Society of London 165: 613-623. - D. Naish
& D. M. Martill - 2008.
- Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria:
Ornithischia). - Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6
(4). - Susannah C.R. Maidment, David B. Norman, Paul M.
Barret & Paul Upchurch- 2008.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
 |
 |