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| Nuthetes Fossil range: Early Cretaceous |
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Nuthetes is the name given to a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur, known only from fossil teeth and jaw fragments found in rocks of Berriasian (Early Cretaceous) age in the Wealdan group of England. Nuthetes has been variously classified as a lizard, a crocodilian, and a juvenile "megalosaur" (previously used as a generic term for any theropod dinosaur). Most recently, a re-examination of the fossils by paleontologist Angela Milner showed that they most likely belonged to dromaeosaurid of the subfamily Velociraptorinae.[1] If it was a dromaeosaur, it would have been one of the first to be described, and the first known from Britain.[2]
The genus Nuthetes contains one species (the type species), Nuthetes destructor. N. destructor was named and described by Richard Owen in 1854. The name Nuthetes is derived from the Greek nouthetetes, meaning "one who warns" or "a monitor," in reference to the similarity of Nuthetes teeth to those of a modern monitor lizard.[3]
References
- ^ Milner, A. (2002). "Theropod dinosaurs of the Purbeck Limestone Group, southern England." In: Milner and Batten (eds.). Life and Environment in Purbeck Times. Special Paper in Palaeontology, 68(268): 191-201.
- ^ Sweetman, S.C. (2004). "The first record of velociraptorine dinosaurs (Saurischia, Theropoda) from the Wealden (Early Cretaceous, Barremian) of southern England." Cretaceous Research, 25(3): 353-364. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2004.01.004
- ^ Glut, D.F. (2002). Dinosaurs: The Encyclopedia Supplement 2. McFarland & Company, 686 pp. ISBN 978-0786411665
External links
- Extensive description from the Milner paper, on the Dinosaur Mailing List.
- Described as a lizard
- Described as a dromaeosaurid
