Procerosaurus
Encyclopedia
Procerosaurus is the name given to an invalid genus
of dinosaur
.
There are two Procerosaurus specimens:
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
.
There are two Procerosaurus specimens:
- The first was described as P. cruralis by von HueneFriedrich von HueneFriedrich von Huene was a German paleontologist who named more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe.-Biography:...
in 1902 and is a junior synonym of TanystropheusTanystropheusTanystropheus , was a 6 metre long reptile that dated from the Middle Triassic period. It is recognisable by its extremely elongated neck, which measured 3 metres long - longer than its body and tail combined. Despite this length, it had only ten neck vertebrae, each quite long...
, a non-dinosaurian prehistoric reptile. - The second was described by Antonin FritschAntonin FritschAntonin Fritsch was a Czech paleontologist, biologist and geologist, living during the Austria–Hungary era. Professor at the Charles University and later became director of the National Museum in Prague...
in 1878 as a species of IguanodonIguanodonIguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs...
(Iguanodon exogirarum, later amended to exogyrarum), and is a highly doubtful dinosaurian-like bit of bone (possibly an internal cast of a tibiaTibiaThe tibia , shinbone, or shankbone is the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates , and connects the knee with the ankle bones....
) from the CenomanianCenomanianThe Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous series. An age is a unit of geochronology: it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the stratigraphic column deposited during the corresponding...
(Late CretaceousLate CretaceousThe Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
) of the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. He reassigned the species to Procerosaurus in 1905, unaware that the genus name was already in use. George OlshevskyGeorge OlshevskyGeorge Olshevsky is a freelance editor, writer, publisher, amateur paleontologist, and mathematician living in San Diego, California.Olshevsky maintains the comprehensive online Dinosaur Genera List...
in 2000 substituted PonerosteusPonerosteusPonerosteus is a dubious genus of archosaur which was first identified as "Iguanodon exogirarum" by Antonin Fritsch in 1878 for a specimen from the Cenomanian . He later renamed it Procerosaurus, unaware that this name was already in use...
for this species.