| Walgettosuchus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype caudal vertebra | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Genus: | †Walgettosuchus von Huene, 1932 |
| Species: | †W. woodwardi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Walgettosuchus woodwardi von Huene, 1932 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Walgettosuchus (meaning "Walgettcrocodile") is a dubious or possibly invalidgenus of extincttetanurantheropoddinosaur that lived inAustralia during theLate Cretaceous (Cenomanian).[1][2][3] It is known from a single caudal vertebra.[4]
Anopalisedvertebra of a theropod dinosaur was discovered in 1905 byTullie Cornthwaite Wollaston (May 17, 1863 – July 17, 1931) in an opal bearing sandstone atLightning Ridge nearWalgett, inNew South Wales.[5] Thefossil was sent to theBritish Museum of Natural History and was reported in January 1909 byArthur Smith Woodward. Following this, the specimen was briefly described by Woodward in 1910.[4]
In 1932 thetype speciesWalgettosuchus woodwardi was named byFriedrich von Huene, based on thisvertebra.[5] The generic name is derived from the town of Walgett andSoukhos, the Greek name of the Egyptian crocodile godSobek. During the 1930s Von Huene tended to form dinosaur names with the ending ~suchus instead of ~saurus because of the closer relationship to crocodiles than to lizards. Thespecific name honours Woodward.
Theholotype,BMNH R3717, was found in theCenomanian-ageLate CretaceousGriman Creek Formation. It consists of a 63-millimetre (2.5 in) long incompleteamphicoelouscaudalvertebral centrum.[5] For unknown reasons,[1] Von Huene believed it had elongateprezygapophyses.[5] He also suggested that if more material was known, it could prove to be synonymous with other Lightning Ridge "coelurosaurs" (i.e.Rapator; coelurosaur in the outdated sense of any small theropod).[5]
Von Huene assignedWalgettosuchus to theCoelurosauria in 1932.[5] In his 1990 review,Ralph Molnar noted that the type cannot be distinguished from tail vertebrae from ornithomimids ormegaraptorids, and considered it to be an indeterminate theropod and anomen dubium or (more likely) an invalidtaxon.[1]
It is possible thatWalgettosuchus andRapator representthe same dinosaur,[6] but this synonymy is impossible to prove as there is no known common fossil material between the two genera (Rapator is only known from a hand bone whileWalgettosuchus is known from a vertebra).[1][2]