Ornithopsis
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Ornithopsis Temporal range: Early Cretaceous |
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| Lectotype vertebra BMNH R28632 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | †Sauropodomorpha |
| Clade: | †Neosauropoda |
| Clade: | †Macronaria |
| Clade: | †Titanosauriformes |
| Genus: |
†Ornithopsis Seeley, 1870 |
| Type species | |
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†Ornithopsis hulkei Seeley, 1870 |
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| Species | |
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Ornithopsis (meaning "bird-likeness") was a medium-sized Early Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur, from England.
The type species, Ornithopsis hulkei, was named and described by Harry Govier Seeley in 1870. The type consisted of two dorsal vertebrae: BMNH R2239 found in East Sussex and BMNH R28632 found on Wight in the Wessex Formation dating from the Barremian. The genus name is derived from Greek ὄρνις (ornis), "bird", en ὄψις (opsis), "face" or "likeness", a reference to the fact that Seeley considered the animal to be an intermediate form bridging the gap between pterosaurs, birds and dinosaurs. The specific name honours John Whitaker Hulke.
Seeley's creation of the genus was, however, not accepted by Richard Owen, who rejected the evolutionary interpretation of the material. Disregarding priority, he therefore in 1875 split it, naming the one vertebra, BMNH R2239, that he had in 1841 described as the quadrate of Iguanodon, Bothriospondylus elongatus, the other, BMNH R28632, Bothriospondylus magnus.
As a result of the split both vertebrae now went their separate nomenclatural way. BMNH R28632 was in 1876 by Owen made the type of Chondrosteosaurus magnus.
BMNH R28632 was in 1882 by Hulke referred to Ornithopsis eucamerotus. However, in 1995 William Blows made it the lectotype of Ornithopis hulkei. Blows also excluded BMNH R2239 from Ornithopsis as being of a clearly different type.
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