''Iliosuchus'' (meaning "crocodile hipped") is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

known from

Bathonian In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.2 ±1.2 annum, Ma to around 165.3 ±1.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds ...

–age (168.3 – 166.1 mya) rocks of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was perhaps long.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2008) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages'
Supplementary Information
/ref> The only known fossils of this genus are three ilia ( BMNH R83, OUM J29780 and OUM J28971) from the Stonesfield Slate,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. From the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

BMNH R83,

Friedrich von Huene Baron Friedrich Richard von Hoyningen-Huene (22 March 1875 – 4 April 1969) was a German nobleman paleontologist who described a large number of dinosaurs, more than anyone else in 20th-century Europe. He studied a range of Permo-Carbonife ...

described and named the only species, ''I. incognitus'', in 1932. The generic name is derived from the ilium and Greek ''Souchos'', the crocodile god. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

means "unknown" in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. Another species, ''I. clevelandi'', was proposed in 1976 by Peter Galton, who assigned '' Stokesosaurus clevelandi'' to ''Iliosuchus'', but this has found no acceptance among other researchers; in 1980 Galton himself withdrew his opinion. The ''Iliosuchus'' ilia, very small with a length of nine to ten centimetres, have a vertical supra– acetabular ridge on the surface, similar to

tyrannosaurid Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to fifteen genera, including the eponymous ''Tyrannosaurus''. The exact number of genera ...

s and many other predatory dinosaurs belonging to the group

Tetanurae Tetanurae (/ˌtɛtəˈnjuːriː/ or "stiff tails") is a clade that includes most Theropoda, theropod dinosaurs, including Megalosauroidea, megalosauroids, Allosauroidea, allosauroids, and Coelurosauria, coelurosaurs (which includes Tyrannosauroi ...

, including '' Piatnitzkysaurus'' and ''

Megalosaurus ''Megalosaurus'' (meaning "great lizard", from Ancient Greek, Greek , ', meaning 'big', 'tall' or 'great' and , ', meaning 'lizard') is an extinct genus of large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic Epoch (Bathonian stage, 166 ...

''.Benson, R.B.J. (2009). "An assessment of variability in theropod dinosaur remains from the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of Stonesfield and New Park Quarry, UK and taxonomic implications for ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'' and ''Iliosuchus incognitus''." ''Palaeontology'' 52 857-877

/ref> Such fragmentary and incomplete material is inadequate for accurate classification; nonetheless, ''Iliosuchus'' has sometimes been considered a tyrannosaurid ancestor. This is unlikely to be correct as the bones cannot be distinguished from small individuals of ''Megalosaurus'', a megalosaurid. Whatever the case, ''Iliosuchus'' is not diagnostic and is therefore nomen dubium, dubious. If ''Iliosuchus incognitus'' is a tyrannosauroid, it would be a possible

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

to '' Proceratosaurus'', the earliest recognized tyrannosauroid, and would be the earliest of the tyrannosauroids.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1920187 Coelurosauria Dinosaur genera Bathonian dinosaurs Fossil taxa described in 1932 Taxa named by Friedrich von Huene Dinosaurs of the United Kingdom

See also

References