Streptospondylus
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Streptospondylus Temporal range: Middle Jurassic, 161 Ma |
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| Streptospondylus altdorfensis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Megalosauria |
| Genus: |
†Streptospondylus von Meyer, 1832 |
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Streptospondylus (meaning "reversed vertebra") is a genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur known from the Middle Jurassic period of France, 161 million years ago. It was a medium-sized predator.
Streptospondylus was one of the first dinosaurs collected and is the first described, though not named. From about 1770, a certain abbey Bachelet, an amateur naturalist living in Rouen, began to collect fossils. These included some theropod vertebrae and limb elements found near Honfleur. In 1776 abbey Jean-François Dicquemare working in Le Havre reported some similar bones, interpreted by him as the remains of dolphins and porpoises. After the death of Bachelet his collection was taken over by C. Guersent, professor of natural history at Rouen. In 1799 the prefect of Seine-Inférieure, count Jacques Claude Beugnot, ordered to move it to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. In 1800 the collection was reported by Georges Cuvier who combined the material with that from the collection of Dicquemare, also obtained by the Paris museum.
In 1808, Cuvier scientifically described the theropod vertebrae as the first dinosaur remains ever. However, he considered them to be crocodilian and associated them with fossils of the Teleosauridae and the Metriorhynchidae. In 1822, Cuvier by the work of Henry De La Bèche became aware that these finds were very disparate, stemming from different periods. He abstained from naming them but in 1824 concluded that there were two main types. In 1825 Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire accordingly named two crocodilian skulls as the genus Steneosaurus, the one, specimen MNHN 8900, becoming Steneosaurus rostromajor, the other, MNHN 8902, S. rostrominor.
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