Calamospondylus
| Calamospondylus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
| |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | Avetheropoda |
| Clade: | Coelurosauria |
| Genus: | †Calamospondylus Fox, 1866 |
| Species: | †C. oweni
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Calamospondylus oweni Fox, 1866
| |
Calamospondylus (meaning "reed vertebrae") is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur. It lived during the Early Cretaceous and its fossils were found on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The type species is C. oweni, named in 1866 in an anonymous publication written largely by its discoverer, the Reverend William Fox. The description given by Fox was brief and listed no unique diagnostic characteristics; between this and the fact that the specimen has been lost, C. oweni is now considered a nomen dubium. The presence of expansive hollows in the bone led Fox to speculate that it was arboreal, leaping from tree to tree, or alternatively that it was a hopping animal.