Proplanicoxa is a genus

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 iguanodont

Iguanodont

Iguanodonts were herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the mid-Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Some members include Camptosaurus, Callovosaurus, Iguanodon, Ouranosaurus, and the hadrosaurids or "duck-billed dinosaurs". Iguanodonts were one of the first groups of dinosaurs to be found...

 which existed in what is now England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 during the Early Cretaceous

Early Cretaceous

The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...

 period (late Barremian

Barremian

The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale between 130.0 ± 1.5 Ma and 125.0 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous epoch...

 stage, around 126 mya).

The holotype

Holotype

A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...

 and only specimen of Proplanicoxa, BMNH R 8649, is composed of thirteen dorsals, a sacrum

Sacrum

In vertebrate anatomy the sacrum is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine and at the upper and back part of the pelvic cavity, where it is inserted like a wedge between the two hip bones. Its upper part connects with the last lumbar vertebra, and bottom part with the coccyx...

 with ilia

Ilia

-Science and Medicine:*Apatura ilia or Lesser Purple Emperor, a butterfly*Ilium , pelvic bone-Places:*Ilia, Hunedoara, Romania*Ilia Prefecture, Greece*Ilia Province, Greece*Ilia Gechikov, Belarus-Arts and literature:...

, parts of the pubis

Pubis

Pubis may refer to:* Pubis * Mons pubis, a padding of fat that protects the pubis bone...

 and ischium. The fossils were found in 1916 by Reginald Walter Hooley on the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

 from the upper Wessex Formation

Wessex Formation

The Wessex Formation is an English fossil site and geological formation that dates to the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous. It is part of the Wealden Group and underlies the younger Vectis Formation.-Invertebrates:...

 of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. BMNH R 8649 was originally assigned to Vectisaurus valdensis Hulke 1879 (=Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis) by Galton

Peter Galton

Peter M. Galton is a British vertebrate paleontologist working in America, who has to date written or co-written about a hundred papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosauropod dinosaurs.With Robert Bakker in a joint article...

 in 1976. The specimen was assigned to its own genus and species by Kenneth Carpenter

Kenneth Carpenter

Kenneth Carpenter is a paleontologist. He is the museum director of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum and author or co-author of a number of books on dinosaurs and Mesozoic life...

 and Yusuke Ishida in 2010

2010 in paleontology

-Anomalocaridids:-Newly named crustaceans:-Newly named insects:* A new family, Cascopleciidae, is published by Poinar Jr.* A new family of ceraphronoid Hymenopters, Radiophronidae, is published by Ortega-Blanco, Rasnitsyn, and Delclòs....

, and the type species

Type species

In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 is Proplanicoxa galtoni. The generic name means “before” (pro in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

) + Planicoxa

Planicoxa

Planicoxa is a genus of advanced iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of North America. It is known from the partial skeletons of several individual specimens. Its fossils were discovered in Utah and South Dakota, United States....

in reference to the postacetabular process of the ilium trending towards the horizontal as seen even stronger in Planicoxa, and the specific name honors Peter Galton

Peter Galton

Peter M. Galton is a British vertebrate paleontologist working in America, who has to date written or co-written about a hundred papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosauropod dinosaurs.With Robert Bakker in a joint article...

. It may be synonymous with Mantellisaurus

Mantellisaurus

Mantellisaurus is a genus of dinosaur formerly known as Iguanodon atherfieldensis. The new genus was erected by Gregory Paul in 2007. According to Paul, it is more lightly built than Iguanodon and more closely related to Ouranosaurus, making Iguanodon in its traditional sense paraphyletic. It is...

.