| Bothriospondylus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustration of the holotype vertebrae ofB. suffosus | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Sauropoda |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda (?) |
| Genus: | †Bothriospondylus Owen,1875 |
| Species: | †B. suffossus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Bothriospondylus suffossus Owen, 1875 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Bothriospondylus, fromAncient Greek βοθρίον (bothríon), meaning "trench", and σπόνδυλος (spóndulos), meaning "vertebra", is adubiousgenus ofneosauropodsauropoddinosaur. It lived during theLate Jurassic inEngland, and the type and only species isB. suffossus.[1]
Thetype species,Bothriospondylus suffossus, was described byRichard Owen in 1875.[1] Thespecific epithetsuffossus means "undermined" inLatin, a reference to the fact thatpleurocoels had hollowed out the sides of the vertebra. It is often incorrectly spelled as "suffosus". Owen based the species onholotypeNHMUK PV R 44592-5, a set of four dorsal vertebrae found inWiltshire in stratum from theKimmeridgian, theKimmeridge Clay. Also three unfused sacral vertebrae were referred.
At the same time Owen named three other species ofBothriospondylus.B. robustus was based on NHMUK PV R 22428, a dorsal from the same location.B. elongatus was based on a vertebra fromSussex, NHMUK PV R 2239, an originalsyntype ofOrnithopsis hulkei. Finally,Bothriospondylus magnus was a new name for another syntype ofOrnithopsis hulkei Seeley 1870, the presentlectotype NHMUK PV OR 28632.[1] Owen himself in an addendum to the same publication renamedB. robustus toMarmarospondylus robustus.Friedrich von Huene in 1908 referred the material toPelorosaurus and in 1922 madeB. suffossus into aOrnithopsis suffossa because the latter generic name has priority.
More complete material fromMadagascar was named byRichard Lydekker as a fifth species,Bothriospondylus madagascariensis.[2]Franz Nopcsa in 1902 assigned toBothriospondylus a vertebra fromArgentina that later would be renamedNopcsaspondylus. A skeleton fromFrance was assigned toBothriospondylus madagascariensis,[3] but has been described as a new genus and species of brachiosaurid,Vouivria.[4]
In 1986 José Fernando Bonaparte moved material from "B."sp. into its own genus,Lapparentosaurus. The material, sometimes referred toB. madagascariensis, was separated into a few dorsal vertebrae to be the newlectotype ofLapparentosaurus.[5]
A revision in 2010 byPhilip Mannion concluded thatBothriospondylus is anomen dubium. However,"Bothriospondylus" madagascariensis was treated as valid and distinct from other Middle Jurassic sauropods from Madagascar.[6] It was namedNarindasaurus thevenini by Royo-Torreset al. in 2020.[7]
Bothriospondylus has over the years been assigned to many groups — even in a Bothriospondylidae of its own[2] — withBrachiosauridae lately being the most popular designation. However, the sparse and eroded material shows nosynapomorphies of the Brachiosauridae and cannot be further determined than a very generalNeosauropoda.[6]
Only the type species ofBothriospondylus can be referred, because of the dubious nature of the genus.[6]
Several species have been referred toBothriospondylus over its existence, with nearly all being reassigned to a new genus.
