Calamosaurus

File:Calamosaurus vertebra.jpg

Richard Lydekker came across these bones when cataloguing the Fox collection and named them Calamospondylus foxi, noting their similarity to those of Coelurus.Lydekker. R. (1889). On a coelurid dinosaur from the Wealden. Geological Magazine 6:119-121. Unfortunately, Calamospondylus had already been coined in 1866 (ironically by Reverend Fox himself, the very man honored in Lydekker's species name).Fox, W.D. in Anonymous. (1866) Another Wealden reptile. Athenaeum 2014:740. Lydekker renamed it in 1891 to its present title.Lydekker. R. (1891). On certain ornithosaurian and dinosaurian remains. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 47:41-44. He also at this time provisionally referred to it the right tibia NHMUK R.186, which was discovered by William D. Fox in 1865 or 1866 and was identified by Naish et al. (2001) as belonging to a basal coelurosaurian like a compsognathid, and has recently been referred to Ornithomimosauria by Allain et al. (2014).Naish, D., Hutt, S., and Martill, D.M. (2001). Saurischian dinosaurs 2: theropods. In: Martill, D.M., and Naish, D. (eds.). Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. The Palaeontological Association:London, 242-309. {{ISBN|0-901702-72-2}}R. Allain, R. Vullo, J. Le loeuff & J.-F. Tournepiche (2014) European ornithomimosaurs (Dinosauria, Theropoda): an undetected record. Geologica Acta 12: (2) (advance online publication) June 2014. NHMUK PV R 186 has since been moved to Calamospondylus.

Because of its sparse remains, it has received little attention. Often, it has been synonymized with Calamospondylus as part of a long, confusing taxonomic tangle,Swinton, W.E. (1936). The dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 47(3):204-220.Romer, A.S. (1956). Osteology of the Reptiles. University of Chicago Press:Chicago, 1-772. {{ISBN|0-89464-985-X}}Steel, R. (1970). Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology. Part 14. Gustav Fischer Verlag:Stuttgart, 1-87. although there is no comparable material between the two genera. Modern reviews have regarded it as a dubious theropod,Norman, D.B. (1990). Problematic theropoda: "coelurosaurs". In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria. University of California Press:Berkeley, 280-305. {{ISBN|0-520-06727-4}}.Holtz Jr., T.R., Molnar, R.E., and Currie, P.J. (2004). Basal Tetanurae. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press:Berkeley, 71-110. {{ISBN|0-520-24209-2}}. although potentially a valid coelurosaurian.

In 2002 Paul Turner found a dorsal vertebra near Grange Chine on the Isle of Wight. An associated partial tibia and metatarsal fragment were subsequently discovered by Oliver Mattsson and referred to Calamosaurus.Naish, D. 2011. Theropod dinosaurs. In Batten, D. J. (ed.) English Wealden Fossils. The Palaeontological Association (London), pp. 526–559. Another specimen referred to Calamosaurus was collected by local fossil hunter Kai Bailey in 2014. Both specimens are on display at the Dinosaur Expeditions, Conservation and Palaeoart Centre near Brighstone, Isle of Wight.

A neck vertebra of a Calamosaurus was found near Chilton Chine on the Isle of Wight by local fossil hunter Dave Badman. The newly discovered vertebra has gone on display at the Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown, Isle of Wight.

NHMUK R.186 was discovered by William D. Fox in 1865 or 1866 and was first assigned to Hypsilophodon foxii by Lydekker (1888).{{Cite book |last=Lydekker |first=Richard |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.61848 |title=Catalogue of the fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural history) ... By Richard Lydekker ... |date=1888 |publisher=Printed by order of the Trustees |location=London}} Lydekker (1891) moved NHMUK PV R 186 to Aristosuchus pusillis,{{Cite journal |last=Lydekker |first=R. |date=1891 |title=On certain Ornithosaurian and Dinosaurian Remains |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/gsl.jgs.1891.047.01-04.06 |journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society |volume=47 |issue=1-4 |pages=41–44 |doi=10.1144/gsl.jgs.1891.047.01-04.06 |issn=0370-291X}} and Galton (1973) agreed with this classification.Galton, P.M., (1973). A femur of a small theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of England. Journal of Paleontology, 47, 996-997. Welles & Long (1974) referred it to the Ornithomimidae,Welles, S.P., Long, R.A., (1974). The tarsus of theropod dinosaurs. Annals of the South African Museum, 64, 191-218. while Norman (1990), Kirkland et al. (1998) and Long and Molnar (1998) referred NHMUK PV R 186 to Coelurosauria.Norman, D.B., (1990). Problematic Theropoda: “Coelurosaurs”. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., Osmolska, H. (eds.). The Dinosauria. Berkeley, University of California Press, 280-305.{{cite journal |last1=Kirkland |first1=J.I. |last2=Britt |first2=B.B. |last3=Whittle |first3=C.H. |last4=Madsen |first4=S.K. |last5=Burge |first5=D.L. |date=1998 |title=A small coelurosaurian theropod from the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Barremian) of eastern Utah |url=http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/bulletins/id/953 |journal=New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin |volume=14 |pages=239–248}}Long, J.A. and Molnar, R.E. (1998). "A new Jurassic theropod dinosaur from Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum 19 (1): 221-229 Galton and Molnar (2005) noted the similarities of NHMUK PV R 186 to the holotype of Coelurus fragilis,Galton, P.M., Molnar, R.E., (2005). Tibiae of small theropod dinosaurs from Southern England: from the Middle Jurassic of Stonesfield near Oxford and the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight. In: Carpenter, K. (ed.). The carnivorous dinosaurs. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 3-22 and Allain et al. (2014) agreed with the placement of NHMUK PV R 186 within Coelurosauria.{{Cite journal |last=Allain |first=R. |last2=Vullo |first2=R. |last3=Le Louff |first3=J. |last4=Tournepiche |first4=J-F. |date=2014 |title=European ornithomimosaurs (Dinosauria, Theropoda): an undetected record |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1344/105.000002083 |journal=Geologica Acta |issue=17 |doi=10.1344/105.000002083 |issn=1695-6133|doi-access=free }}

Naish et al. (2001) tentatively referred the tibia to Calamosaurus foxi,Naish, D., Hutt, S., and Martill, D.M. (2001). Saurischian dinosaurs 2: theropods. In: Martill, D.M., and Naish, D. (eds.). Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. The Palaeontological Association:London, 242-309. {{ISBN|0-901702-72-2}} and NHMUK PV R 186 has since been moved to Calamospondylus oweni.{{Cite web |title=Down on the (former) Dinosaur Farm |url=https://chasmosaurs.blogspot.com/2015/05/down-on-former-dinosaur-farm.html |access-date=23 October 2023 |website=Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs}}

As a possible basal coelurosaur, Calamosaurus would have been a small, agile, bipedal carnivore. Naish et al. (2001) estimate the living animal would have been around {{convert|3|–|5|m|ft|sp=us}} long, with a small head given the build of the neck vertebrae.

{{Reflist}}

{{Theropoda|O.}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1826727}}

Category:Coelurosauria

Category:Barremian genera

Category:Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Europe

Category:Cretaceous England

Category:Fossils of England

Category:Fossil taxa described in 1891

Category:Taxa named by Richard Lydekker