Cruxicheiros

Cruxicheiros Temporal range: Middle Jurassic, 167 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Vertebrae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Clade:	Tetanurae
Genus:	†Cruxicheiros Benson & Radley, 2010
Species:	†C. newmanorum
Binomial name
Cruxicheiros newmanorum Benson & Radley, 2010

Cruxicheiros (meaning "cross hand") is a genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur which lived in the Middle Jurassic of England. The type species is C. newmanorum, described by Roger Benson and Jonathan Radley in 2010.

The remains of the holotype were discovered in the early 1960s in the Cross Hands Quarry, near Little Compton, in Warwickshire in England. These fossils came from the Chipping Norton Limestone Formation, which is dated to the lower Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic, about 167 ma (million years ago). The fossils were stored in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 2008 when they were transferred to the Warwickshire Museum Service; the transfer prompted closer study of the neglected fossils.

Unrecognized fossils of dinosaurs, many of them theropods, have been discovered in England at least as early as 1677. The larger theropod fossils had been attributed (without critical examination) to Megalosaurus, while the smaller ones were assigned to Iliosuchus. The 2010 paper recognized differences between the Cross Hands Quarry discovery and those attributed to Megalosaurus. These differences include lower and broader spines along the animal's back, and differences in leg and hip bones. The authors renamed the Cross Hands Quarry specimens Cruxicheiros newmanorum; the generic name Cruxicheiros comes from a mixture of Latin and Greek, Latin crux meaning "cross" and Greek cheiros meaning "hand," in reference to the Cross Hands Quarry locality where the fossils were discovered. The specific name newmanorum honors the Newman family, who own the quarry.