Sarcosaurus
Name:
Sarcosaurus
(Flesh lizard).
Phonetic: Sar-ko-sore-us.
Named By: Charles William Andrews - 1921.
Synonyms: Possibly Sarcosaurus andrewsi.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda.
Species: S. woodi (type).
Diet: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated at around 3.5 meters long.
Known locations: England - Lower lias.
Time period: Sinemurian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Pelvis, vertebrae and upper
portion of a femur.
There
is not a lot of information about Sarcosaurus due
to the relatively
incomplete remains from only the pelvic region of the body. This
makes it impossible to ascertain the form and structure of other body
parts such as the head, hands and feet, something that makes exact
classification of this dinosaur near impossible. In the past
Sarcosaurus has been classified as a megalosauroid
(similar to
Megalosaurus),
a ceratosaur (similar to Ceratosaurus)
to even a
coelophysoid (similar to Coelophysis).
Sarcosaurus
also has an intermeshed taxonomic history with other dinosaurs,
specifically Magnosaurus.
In 1932 the German palaeontologist
Friedrich von Huene assigned a tibia (lower leg bone) to both
Magnosaurus and Sarcosaurus and
additionally included the type species
of Sarcosaurus within Magnosaurus
that was newly created at the time.
Later however von Huene assigned priority of the tibia to Sarcosaurus
as a second species called S. andrewsi; however
in 1974 this
was in turn reclassified as a species of Megalosaurus
by Michael
Waldman. Today the second species of S. andrewsi
is considered a
nomen dubium because other palaeontologists either consider there to be
no appreciable difference, or come to the conclusion that it is
impossible to assign a new fossil to Sarcosaurus
since there are no
other remains to compare it to.
Another
set of post cranial remains was assigned to Sarcosaurus
by von Huene
in 1932, however there is uncertainty to the validity of these
remains as well. However again it has proven impossible to
conclusively attribute these remains to Sarcosaurus
and the remains in
question are currently known as ‘Liassaurus’. ‘Liassaurus’
however is an informal name, and the remains they describe are
currently considered to represent an unidentifiable theropod dinosaur
(due to the incomplete preservation of this skeleton). This does
not entirely rule out the possibility that 'Liassaurus’ may still
actually be another specimen of Sarcosaurus,
which is why it is often
considered a nomen nudum, which basically means that it is a ‘naked
name’ that is not considered scientifically valid.
Further reading
- On some remains of a theropodous dinosaur from the Lower Lias of
Barrow-on-Soar. - Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 9
8:570-576. - C. W. Andrews - 1921.
- A revision of the early neotheropod genus Sarcosaurus from the Early
Jurassic (Hettangian–Sinemurian) of central England. - Zoological
Journal of the Linnean Society. - M. D. Ezcurra, R. J. Butler, S. C. R.
Maidment, I. J. Sansom, L. E. Meade & J. D. Radley - 2020.
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