Erectopus

Erectopus Temporal range: 112 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Femur
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Clade:	Avetheropoda
Clade:	†Carnosauria
Genus:	†Erectopus von Huene, 1923
Species:	†E. superbus
Binomial name
Erectopus superbus (Sauvage, 1882) [originally Megalosaurus]
Synonyms
Megalosaurus superbus Sauvage, 1882 Erectopus sauvagi Huene, 1932

Erectopus is an allosauroid theropod from the Lower Cretaceous of France.

The etymology of Erectopus is based on the structure of the foot (Latin erectus = "upright" + Greek pous = "foot"). The specific name superbus means "proud" in Latin.

The material comprising the type series was discovered in the late 19th century from the Phosphate-bearing beds of La Penthiève (Mammilatum Zone; lower Albian) at Louppy-le-Château in eastern France, which have also produced remains of plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and crocodiles. The fossils originally resided in the private collection of Louis Pierson. The first, two teeth and a vertebra, were first described by Charles Barrois in 1875. After more remains had been found, in 1882 Henri-Émile Sauvage made them the basis for a new taxon, Megalosaurus superbus. In 1923, the material was redescribed by Friedrich von Huene (1875–1969), who argued that it could not be included within the genus Megalosaurus and created for the Pierson theropod a separate genus, naming the species Erectopus superbus. In 1932 von Huene concluded that the original fossils described by Barrois were not necessarily of the same species as the later finds. Assuming that Sauvage had used the former as the holotype of Megalosaurus superbus, he therefore created another species: Erectopus sauvagei. Von Huene even declined to use the generic name Erectopus for the first species, indicating it as "Gen. indeterm. superbus", which however does not constitute a valid name.