Early Cretaceous, Barremian) of Southern England
Cretaceous Research 25 (2004) 353–364 www.elsevier.com/locate/CretRes The first record of velociraptorine dinosaurs (Saurischia, Theropoda) from the Wealden (Early Cretaceous, Barremian) of southern England Steven C. Sweetman School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UK Received 20 March 2003; accepted in revised form 30 January 2004 Abstract Velociraptorine dromaeosaurid dinosaur teeth are reported for the first time from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous, Barremian) of the Isle of Wight, southern England. They represent the second record of the Dromaeosauridae in Britain and the first of this clade from strata of the British Wealden Group. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Cretaceous; Barremian; Dinosaur; DSDI; Isle of Wight; Teeth; Theropoda; Velociraptorinae 1. Introduction bones from several others (Lydekker, 1888; Galton, 1973; Naish, 2000), Calamosaurus foxi Lydekker, 1889, The Early Cretaceous (Barremian) Wessex Forma- represented by two associated cervical vertebrae; and tion of the Isle of Wight, southern England, yields a Calamospondylus oweni Fox in Anon., 1866a (Anon., diverse dinosaur fauna (Martill and Naish, 2001). In 1866b; Naish, 2002), which is based on a sacrum the addition to ankylosaurs, ornithopods, sauropods, rare whereabouts of which is currently unknown. The synsa- stegosaurs and the problematic Yaverlandia bitholus crum named Ornithodesmus cluniculus Seeley, 1887a Galton, 1971 (Sullivan, 2000), the fauna also includes (Seeley, 1887b) has been compared with troodontid a number of theropods known from both isolated and dromaeosaurid coelurosaurs (Howse and Milner, elements and partially articulated skeletons. The latter 1993; Norell and Makovicky, 1997) and coelophysoids comprise the allosauroid Neovenator salerii Hutt et al., (Makovicky, 1995; Naish, 1999c).
[Show full text]