Poekilopleuron facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Poekilopleuron |
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| Cast of the holotype gastralia, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Megalosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Afrovenatorinae |
| Genus: | †Poekilopleuron Eudes-Deslongchamps, 1836 |
| Type species | |
| Poekilopleuron bucklandii Eudes-Deslongchamps, 1836
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| Synonyms | |
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Genus synonyms
Poecilopleuron Bronn, 1837 (nomen nudum)
Poikilopleuron Owen, 1842 Poecilopleurum Bronn, 1849 Poicilopleuron Joseph Leidy, 1870 Species synonyms
Poikilopleuron bucklandi Owen, 1842
Poecilopleurum bucklandi Bronn, 1849 Poicilopleuron bucklandi Leidy, 1870 Megalosaurus bucklandi Hulke, 1879 Megalosaurus poikilopleuron Huene, 1926 Poekilopleuron bucklandi White, 1973 Poecilopleuron bucklandi Welles & Long, 1974 |
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Poekilopleuron (meaning "varied ribs") is a megalosauroid dinosaur. The genus has been used under many different spelling variants, although only one, Poekilopleuron, is valid. The type species is P. bucklandii (see also Megalosaurus), named after William Buckland, and many junior synonyms of it have also been erected. Few material is currently known, as the holotype was destroyed in World War II, although many casts of the material still exist.
Discovery and naming
Poekilopleuron is a genus of theropod with a long and complex history. The genus was first named and described by Jacques-Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps in a report published in 1836, based on holotype material that is now destroyed. In 1837, Eudes-Deslongchamps published a more detailed account of this discovery in a monograph which was also inserted next year in volume 6 of the "Mémoires de la Société Linnéenne Normandie".
The holotype, which was housed in Musée de la Faculté des Sciences de Caen and destroyed during World War II, included gastralia, phalanges, a left forelimb, caudal vertebrae, chevrons, ribs and a hindlimb. Of all the material, few is still preserved, although the gastralia, phalanges and forelimb were casted.
In the same 1836 publication, Eudes-Deslongchamps also named the type species of Poekilopleuron, P. bucklandii. Eudes-Deslongchapms noted similarities with some material of Megalosaurus bucklandii and Poekilopleuron, and chose the species name bucklandii for Poekilopleuron, so that it the two genera were synonymized, only the genus name would be suppressed. The generic name is derived from Greek ποίκιλος, poikilos, "varied", and πλευρών, pleuron, "rib", a reference to the three types of rib present. The specific name, honouring William Buckland, was deliberately identical to that of Megalosaurus bucklandii.
Images for kids
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Megalosauroid neural arch and spine referred by Owen to Poekilopleuron.
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Size of Poekilopleuron compared to a human
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Life restoration of two Poekilopleuron
See also
In Spanish: Poekilopleuron bucklandii para niños
