''Macrurosaurus'' (meaning "large-tailed lizard") is the name given to a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
from the
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
. It was a
titanosauriform which lived in what is now
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The type species, ''M. semnus'', was named in 1876.
A second species, ''M. platypus'', may also exist.
History
The genus ''Macrurosaurus'' was named by
Harry Govier Seeley in 1869 in his index of fossils from the
Cambridge Greensand. In 1876 Seeley more thoroughly described the
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
, ''Macrurosaurus semnus'', making the name valid.
[H.G. Seeley, 1876, "On ''Macrurosaurus semnus'' (Seeley), a long tailed animal with procoelous vertebrae from the Cambridge Upper Greensand, preserved in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge", ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London'' 32: 440-444 ] The generic name is derived from Greek ''makros'', "large", and ''oura'', "tail". 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 ...
is derived from Greek ''semnos'', "stately" or "impressive". A second species, ''M. platypus'', from the
Chalk Group
The Chalk Group (often just called the Chalk) is the lithostratigraphic unit (a certain number of rock strata) which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England. The same or similar rock sequences occur acr ...
of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, may also exist.
Seeley in 1869 named it as a species of the
ankylosaurid ''
Acanthopholis'' but
Friedrich von Huene
Friedrich von Huene, born Friedrich Richard von Hoinigen, (March 22, 1875 – April 4, 1969) was a German paleontologist who renamed more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe. He also made key contributions about v ...
named it as a second species of ''Macrurosaurus'' in 1956.
[von Huene, F. (1956)]
Palaeontologie und Phylogenie der niederen Tetrapoden
It is known from the specimen CAMSM B55454-55461. In 1999
Xabier Pereda-Superbiola and