Becklespinax 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 large theropod 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...

 based on a type specimen of three tall-spined vertebrae found in 1884 in Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, 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...

 by the fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 collector Samuel H. Beckles

Samuel Beckles

Samuel H. Beckles was an English 19th century dinosaur hunter, who collected remains in Sussex and the Isle of Wight. In 1854 he described bird-like trackways that he thought could have been made by dinosaurs, which he later identified as probably those of an Iguanodon in 1862...

. The fossils are believed to have been from 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...

.

Its classification has proved difficult. The vertebrae were originally assumed to be linked with some theropod teeth and the result named Altispinax

Altispinax

Altispinax is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Obernkirchen Sandstein of Niedersachsen, Germany. Material has also been referred to it from the Hastings Beds , Purbeck Beds , and Lower Greensand of England, and the Weald Clay of England and Belgium, but this material...

 dunkeri, a species of the Superfamily

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...

 Megalosauroidea. Later this assignment was shown to be unjustified, as the vertebrae identified as belonging to a new species of Acrocanthosaurus

Acrocanthosaurus

Acrocanthosaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the Aptian and early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Like most dinosaur genera, Acrocanthosaurus contains only a single species, A. atokensis. Its fossil remains are found mainly in the U.S...

, Acrocanthosaurus altispinax, by Gregory Paul. In 1991 it was reassigned to a new sinraptorid

Sinraptoridae

Sinraptorids were a family of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. They tended to be large predators, some growing to sizes of . Sinraptorids are carnosaurs, and many were initially classified within Megalosauridae or Allosauridae prior to recent analysis...

 genus, Becklespinax, by George Olshevsky

George Olshevsky

George 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 honour of its discoverer, Beckles. 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 B. altispinax.

This animal was probably on the order of 8 m (26 ft) long and 1.5 tonnes (1.5 tons) in mass.
The hump on the back of the Megalosaurus

Megalosaurus

Megalosaurus is a genus of large meat-eating theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period of Europe...

sculpture in Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, also known as Dinosaur Court, are a series of sculptures of dinosaurs and extinct mammals located in Crystal Palace, London. Commissioned in 1852 and unveiled in 1854, they were the first dinosaur sculptures in the world, pre-dating the publication of Charles Darwin's...

 and other restorations from the 19th century was based on the material now referred to as Becklespinax.

Three Becklespinax altispinax back vertebrae from Sussex have irregular rugosities "over the distal third of the neural spines." The two spines closest to the skull are ankylosed. The single closest spine is only about two-thirds the height of the others.

External links

• Becklespinax Dinosaur Mailing List Archive, 18 Feb 1997 15:42, Cleveland Museum of Natural History