Eucamerotus

Taxobox|
name = "Eucamerotus"
fossil_range = Lower Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Saurischia
subordo = Sauropodomorpha
infraordo = Sauropoda
unranked_familia = Macronaria
familia = unknown
genus = "Eucamerotus"
genus_authority = Hulke, 1871
species = "E. foxi"
species_authority = Blows, 1995

"Eucamerotus" (meaning "well-chambered" in reference to the hollows of the vertebrae) was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation (Wealden) of the Isle of Wight, England. It is known from vertebral remains, and a partial skeleton has been referred, although this has not been accepted. It is one of several sauropods that is part of the complicated "Ornithopsis"-"Pelorosaurus" taxonomic tangle of fragmentary Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous-age European sauropods.

History and Taxonomy

John Hulke named the genus from several partial dorsal vertebrae: holotype BMNH R2522 (a neural arch), and paratypes BMNH R89 (two dorsals), BMNH R90 (two dorsal vertebrae), and BMNH R2524 (a dorsal from a juvenile).Hulke, J.W. (1871). Appendix to a "note on a new and undescribed Weaden vertebra". "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London" 28:36-37.] Naish, D., and Martill, D.M. (2001). Saurischian dinosaurs 1: Sauropods. In: Martill, D.M., and Naish, D. (eds.). "Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight." The Palaeontological Association:London 185-241. ISBN 0-901707-72-2] He did not provide it with a species name, and within a few years thought that it was the same as "Ornithopsis hulkei".Hulke, J.W. (1879). Note (3rd) on ("Eucamerotus", Hulke) "Ornithopsis", H. G. Seeley, = "Bothriospondylus magnus" Owen, = "Chondrosteosaurus magnus", Owen. "Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London" 35:752-762.] Other authors preferred "Pelorosaurus" as a synonym.von Huene, F. (1909). Skizze zu einer Systematik und Stammesgeschichte der Dinosaurier. "Centralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie" 1909:12-22. [German] ] Romer, A.S. (1956). "Osteology of the Reptiles". University of Chicago Press:Chicago 1-772. ISBN 0-89464985-X] Steel, R. (1970). Part 14. Saurischia. "Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology". Part 14. Gustav Fischer Verlag:Stuttgart p. 1-87.]

William T. Blows resurrected the genus in 1995 as a valid brachiosaurid, added the species name "foxi" (originally spelled "foxii"), selected BMNH R2522 as the type specimen, and referred additional vertebrae and partial skeleton MIWG-BP001 to it.Blows, W.T. (1995). The Early Cretaceous brachiosaurid dinosaurs "Ornithopsis" and "Eucamerotus" from the Isle of Wight, England. "Palaeontology" 38(1):187-197.] This last point has not been generally accepted;Upchurch, P.M., Barrett, P.M., and Dodson, P. (2004). Sauropoda. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). "The Dinosauria" (2nd edition). University of California Press:Berkeley 259-322. ISBN 0-520-24209-2] unfortunately, this skeleton has never been officially described. Naish and Martill (2001) suggested it was a dubious brachiosaurid, and did not find Blows' characters convincing. Upchurch "et al." (2004) considered it to be a dubious sauropod. Santucci and Bertini (2005), however, suggested it was a titanosaurian.Santucci, R.M., and Bertini, R.J. (2005). On the phylogenetic relationships of "Eucamerotus foxi" (Sauropoda, Saurischia), from Wessex Formation, Lower Cretaceous, England (UK). In: Kellner, A.W.A., Henriques, D.D.R., and Rodrigues, T. (eds.). "II Congresso Latino-Americano de Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Boletim de Resumos". Museum Nacional/UFRJ:Rio de Janeiro, 242-243.] Darren Naish, as of July 2006, considered it to be a brachiosaurid [http://darrennaish.blogspot.com/2006/07/angloposeidon-unreported-story-part-iv.html] .

Paleobiology

If a brachiosaurid, "Eucamerotus" may have been around 15 m (49.2 ft) long, small for a sauropod. As any kind of sauropod, it would have been a quadrupedal herbivore.

References

External links

* [http://darrennaish.blogspot.com/2006/02/lots-of-sauropods-or-just-few.html Darren Naish on Wealden sauropod diversity]
* [http://darrennaish.blogspot.com/2006/07/angloposeidon-unreported-story-part-iv.html More on Wealden sauropods]