| Sarcolestes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustrations of the mandible and tooth | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Thyreophora |
| Clade: | †Ankylosauria |
| Genus: | †Sarcolestes Lydekker, 1893 |
| Type species | |
| †Sarcolestes leedsi Lydekker, 1893 | |
Sarcolestes (meaning "flesh robber") is anextinctgenus ofankylosaurianornithischian dinosaur from theOxford Clay ofEngland. The currenttype and only species isS. leedsi, and the holotype is a single partial leftmandible. The genus and species were named in1893 byRichard Lydekker, who thought they belonged to a theropod.
Sarcolestes was first named in1893 byRichard Lydekker, and itstype species was designated asS. leedsi. The specific name was to honourAlfred Nicholson Leeds, the discoverer of the specimen, and many others like it. Theholotype and only specimen, is a partial leftmandible and fused scute that was damaged during excavation. The jaw preserved one entire tooth and two crown tips in itsalveolus, with the missing bone in the central section of the mandible. It lacks a preservedpredentary, even though the entire mandibular symphysis is preserved and complete.[1]
Originally, Lydekker found thatSarcolestes represented a theropod. He cited lack of a predentary as excluding the taxon from ornithopods, and tooth morphology as excluding it from sauropods. Within theropods, it was found to be sufficiently different from one main groups of theropods includingCoelurus,Calamosaurus, andCompsognathus, and the megalosaurids includingMegalosaurus. Thus, Lydekker placed it inThecodontosauridae, a group of theropods (now placed in Sauropodomorpha) includingThecodontosaurus. Lydekker noted thatSarcolestes was similar in dental morphology toPriodontognathus, and that together they might be shown to be related to scelidosaurids. However, he also noted that together they may represent their own group within Theropoda.[1] In 1901,Franz Nopcsa found thatSarcolestes was in fact herbivorous, and classified it inStegosauridae with genera such asPolacanthus,Stegosaurus,Hylaeosaurus,Stenopelix and various others.[2]Peter Galton concluded thatSarcolestes represents a genus withinNodosauridae, with a dentary similar to that ofSauropelta.[3] However, others have cast doubt on this assignment and even the validity ofSarcolestes.[4]Sarcolestes is one of a few ankylosaurians known from theMiddle Jurassic;Spicomellus may be slightly older, having been found in theBathonian–CallovianEl Mers III Formation of Morocco.[5]
