A new large-bodied theropod dinosaur from the middle jurassic of Warwickshire, United Kingdom

Journal article

Previously undocumented postcranial material from the Chipping Norton Limestone Formation (Middle Jurassic: Lower Bathonian) of Cross Hands Quarry, near Little Compton, Warwickshire represents a new large-bodied theropod dinosaur, distinct from the contemporaneous Megalosaurus bucklandii. Cruxicheiros newmanorum gen. et sp. nov. is diagnosed by a single autapomorphy, the presence of a proximomedially inclined ridge within the groove that marks the lateral extent of the posterior flange of the femoral caput (trochanteric fossa). C. newmanorum shows three tetanuran features: widely separated cervical zygapophyses, a swollen ridge on the lateral surface of the iliac blade and an anterior spur of the caudal neural spines. However, due to fragmentary preservation its affinities within Tetanurae remain uncertain: phylogenetic analysis places it as the most basal tetanuran, the most basal megalosauroid (= spinosauroid) or the most basal neotetanuran.

Authors: Benson, R; Radley, J

• Journal: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
• Volume: 55
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 35-42
• Publication date: 2010-03-01
• DOI: 10.4202/app.2009.0083
• EISSN: 1732-2421
• ISSN: 0567-7920
• Language: English
• Keywords: Tetanurae; Theropoda; Megalosaurus; England; Cruxicheiros; Chipping norton limestone formation; Dinosauria; Bathonian