a meat-eating ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Niger.
Pronunciation: SPY-no-STROH-fee-us
Meaning: Spine vertebrae
Author/s: Sereno
et al. (
2004)
Synonyms: Elaphrosaurus gautieri
First Discovery: In Tedreft, Niger
Acta Ordinal: #550
Spinostropheus gautieri
(Gautier's spined vertebrae)Etymology
Spinostropheus is derived from the Greek "Spinos" (spine) and "strophe" (vertebra), referring to the prominent bony processes (known to boffins as epipophyseal processes) on the top of its neck vertebrae.
The
species epithet,
gautieri, was coined by Lapparent in 1960 to honor F. Gautier who discovered the type locality at In Tedreft, Niger, in 1959.
Discovery
The first remains of
Spinostropheus were discovered in the Tiourarén
Formation (Tegama Group) at Oued Timmersöi, west of In Tedreft, 250 km northwest of Agadez, Niger, by Albert-Félix de Lapparent in 1959.
The
holotype (MNHN 1961-28, housed at the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle) is a neck vertebra which was originally described as
Elaphrosaurus gautieri by de Lapparent in 1960.
A referred specimen (MNN TIG6), an articulated portion of vertebral column
from the third neck vertebra to the sacrum (hip) with associated ribs, was discovered mingled with the remains of
Jobaria and
Afrovenator at Tamerát, In Gall, Niger, by Paul Sereno in 1994.
• de Lapparent AF (1960) "Les Dinosauriens du "Continental intercalaire" du Sahara [
The dinosaurs of the "Continental Intercalaire" of the central Sahara]".
Mémoires de la Société géologique de France, nouvelle série 39(88A): 1-57
• Sereno PC, Wilson JA and Conrad JL (2004) "
New dinosaurs link southern landmasses in the Mid-Cretaceous".
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 271(1546): 1325-1330.
• Carrano MT and Sampson SD (2008) "
The Phylogeny of Ceratosauria".
Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 6: 183-236.
• Rauhut OWM and Lopez-Arbarello A (2009) "Considerations on the age of the Tiouaren Formation (Iullemmeden Basin, Niger, Africa): Implications for Gondwanan Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate faunas".
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 271: 259-267.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
SPINOSTROPHEUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/SPINOSTROPHEUS›. Web access: 25th Apr 2026.
