Theiophytalia

Taxobox
name = "Theiophytalia"
fossil_range=Early Cretaceous

---

image_width = 200px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = Ornithopoda
infraordo = Iguanodontia
genus = "Theiophytalia"
genus_authority = Brill & Carpenter, 2006
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "T. kerri" Brill & Carpenter, 2006 (type)

"Theiophytalia" is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Colorado (Brill & Carpenter, 2006). The etymology of the generic name is, from Greek, theios: "divine" + Greek phytalia: "garden", or "garden of the gods". Garden of the Gods is a park near Colorado Springs, Colorado, where a skull, the only fossil of the genus yet to be discovered, was found in 1878. The specific name "kerri" honors James Hutchinson Kerr, who found the specimen.

The holotype is a partial skull that was referred by O.C. Marsh (affirmed by Gilmore, 1909), to whom the skull was given in 1886, as that of "Camptosaurus amplus". Gilmore used the skull to reconstruct the skull of "Camptosaurus" assuming that it came from the Morrison Formation. However, microscopic comparisons of thin-sections of the Mesozoic formations in the Garden of the Gods showed that the specimen actually came from the Lytle Member of the Purgatoire Formation; therefore, the skull was Early Cretaceous in age. Detailed comparisons by Brill and Carpenter (2006) also showed that the skull differed in a number of key features from that of "Camptosaurus", namely: a longer, heavier, and more rugose snout; a wider dorsal process on the maxilla; a proportionally smaller antorbital fenestra; and stouter quadrate, with a bulbous articulation for the lower jaw. Compare the skull image with that of "Camptosaurus".

The article describing the find classified "Theiophytalia" as intermediate in derivation between "Camptosaurus" and "Iguanodon". The type species is "Theiophytalia kerri".

References

*Brill, K., and K. Carpenter. 2006. A Description of a New Ornithopod from the Lytle Member of the Purgatoire Formation (Lower Cretaceous) and a Reassessment of the Skull of "Camptosaurus"; pp. 49-67 in K. Carpenter (ed.), Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

*Gilmore, C.W. 1909. Osteology of the Jurassic reptile "Camptosaurus", with a revision of the species of the genus, and description of two new species. Proceedings U.S. National Museum, 36:197-332.

External links

* [http://dml.cmnh.org/2006Nov/msg00073.html Dinosaur Mailing List entry, which announces the new genus]