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Megalosaurus bucklandii

Reptilia - Megalosauridae

Taxonomy
Megalosaurus bucklandii was named by Mantell (1827). Its type specimen is OUMNH J.13505 (lectotype), a mandible (partial right dentary), and it is a 3D body fossil. Its type locality is Stonesfield Slate quarries, which is in a Bathonian marginal marine sandstone in the Taynton Limestone Formation of the United Kingdom.

It was corrected as Megalosaurus bucklandi by Leidy (1868), Quenstedt (1882), Ameghino (1899), Gadow (1901), Royo y Gomez (1927) and Vila et al. (2011); it was synonymized subjectively with Megalosaurus dunkeri by Newton (1889); it was considered a nomen dubium by Allain and Chure (2002).

Synonymy list
YearName and author
1827Megalosaurus bucklandii Mantell p. 67
1829Megalosaurus bucklandi Holl p. 83
1832Megalosaurus bucklandi Meyer p. 110
1833Megalosaurus bucklandi Mantell p. 265
1838Megalosaurus bucklandii Eudes-Deslongchamps p. 38
1843Megalosaurus bucklandi Fitzinger p. 35
1846Megalosaurus bucklandi Plieninger p. 151
1851Megalosaurus bucklandi Mantell p. 328
1852Megalosaurus bucklandii Gervais p. 264
1852Megalosaurus bucklandi Quenstedt p. 112
1853Megalosaurus bucklandi Pictet p. 468
1854Megalosaurus bucklandi Mantell p. 686
1854Megalosaurus bucklandi Owen p. 19
1855Megalosaurus bucklandii Owen figs. Pl. 19
1857Megalosaurus bucklandi Owen figs. Pl. 4
1861Megalosaurus bucklandi Owen p. 288
1861Megalosaurus bucklandi Quenstedt p. 614
1864Megalosaurus bucklandi Costa p. 16
1866Megalosaurus bucklandii Cope p. 276
1867Megalosaurus bucklandii Cope p. 71
1867Megalosaurus bucklandi Quenstedt p. 143
1868Megalosaurus bucklandi Leidy p. 197
1870Megalosaurus bucklandii Cope p. 107
1871Megalosaurus bucklandii Bunzel p. 7
1871Megalosaurus bucklandi Phillips p. 180
1875Megalosaurus bucklandi Barrois p. 79
1880Megalosaurus bucklandi Sauvage p. 522
1882Megalosaurus bucklandi Etheridge p. 198
1882Megalosaurus bucklandi Quenstedt p. 182
1882Megalosaurus bucklandi Sauvage p. 8
1883Megalosaurus bucklandii Seeley p. 248
1884Megalosaurus bucklandi Dames p. 188
1887Megalosaurus bucklandi Douvillé p. 95
1887Megalosaurus bucklandi Koken p. 8
1888Megalosaurus bucklandii Lydekker p. 60
1888Megalosaurus bucklandii Mansel-Pleydell p. 37
1890Megalosaurus bucklandi Woodward and Sherborn p. 249
1890Megalosaurus bucklandi Zittel p. 723
1892Megalosaurus bucklandi Ubaghs p. 27
1893Megalosaurus bucklandi Seeley p. 52
1894Megalosaurus bucklandi Seeley p. 338
1896Megalosaurus bucklandii Depéret p. 189
1898Megalosaurus bucklandi Sauvage p. 32
1899Megalosaurus bucklandi Ameghino p. 62
1900Megalosaurus bucklandi Sauvage p. 504
1901Megalosaurus bucklandi Gadow p. 421
1901Megalosaurus bucklandi Nopcsa p. 200
1902Megalosaurus bucklandi Hay p. 487
1904Megalosaurus bucklandi Lambe p. 22
1906Megalosaurus bucklandi Cannon p. 195
1911Megalosaurus bucklandii von Zittel p. 282
1915Megalosaurus bucklandi Stromer p. 6
1923Megalosaurus bucklandii Huene pp. 449-450
1925Megalosaurus bucklandii Depéret and Savornin p. 1110
1926Megalosaurus bucklandi Huene p. 477
1927Megalosaurus bucklandi Royo y Gomez p. 127
1928Megalosaurus bucklandii Depéret and Savornin p. 260
1928Megalosaurus bucklandi Perrier p. 3087
1931Megalosaurus bucklandi Stromer p. 8
1932Megalosaurus bucklandi Rama Rao p. 224
1934Megalosaurus bucklandi Stromer p. 13
1939Megalosaurus bucklandi Kuhn p. 68
1943Megalosaurus bucklandi Lapparent p. 11
1960Megalosaurus bucklandi Delair p. 77
1964Megalosaurus bucklandi Tatarinov p. 537
1964Megalosaurus bucklandii Walker p. 108
1967Megalosaurus bucklandi Lapparent p. 10
1970Megalosaurus bucklandii Steel p. 34
1970Megalosaurus bucklandii Swinton p. 140
1973Megalosaurus bucklandi Delair p. 2
1974Megalosaurus bucklandii Waldman p. 326
1978Megalosaurus bucklandi Rioult p. 26
1979Megalosaurus bucklandi Friese p. 26
1986Megalosaurus bucklandi Chabli p. 70
1988Megalosaurus bucklandii Paul p. 281
1990Megalosaurus bucklandii Molnar et al. p. 191
1991Megalosaurus bucklandi Buffetaut et al. p. 23
1992Megalosaurus bucklandi Bakker et al. p. 3
1992Megalosaurus bucklandi Cheevely and Chapman p. 349
1992Megalosaurus bucklandi Delair p. 196
1995Megalosaurus bucklandi Buffetaut et al. p. 70
1996Megalosaurus bucklandi Molnar et al. p. 667
1997Megalosaurus bucklandi Buffetaut p. 213
1997Megalosaurus bucklandi Padian p. 415
1998Megalosaurus bucklandi Holtz, Jr. p. 38
2004Megalosaurus bucklandii Day and Barrett p. 359
2004Megalosaurus bucklandii Holtz, Jr. et al. p. 72
2006Megalosaurus bucklandi Galton and Knoll p. 905
2006Megalosaurus bucklandi Mateus p. 226
2007Megalosaurus bucklandii Naish and Martill pp. 494, 501-502 fig. 1
2007Megalosaurus bucklandi Sampson and Witmer p. 38
2008Megalosaurus bucklandii Benson p. 58
2008Megalosaurus bucklandii Benson et al. p. 420
2009Megalosaurus bucklandii Benson and Barrett p. 137
2009Megalosaurus bucklandi Wu et al. p. 23
2010Megalosaurus bucklandii Choiniere et al. p. 1775
2011Megalosaurus bucklandi Vila et al. p. 158
2012Megalosaurus bucklandii Carrano et al. p. 236
2014Megalosaurus bucklandii Dalman p. 171
2014Megalosaurus bucklandii Hendrickx and Mateus p. 20
2016Megalosaurus bucklandii Csiki-Sava et al. p. 228
2016Megalosaurus bucklandii Rauhut et al. p. 2
2016Megalosaurus bucklandii Razzolini et al. p. 11
2017Megalosaurus bucklandii Ezcurra p. 518
2017Megalosaurus bucklandii Howlett et al. p. 83
2018Megalosaurus bucklandi Gand et al. p. 207
2020Megalosaurus bucklandii Moro et al.

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
Sauropsida
classReptilia
subclassEureptilia()
Romeriida
RankNameAuthor
Diapsida()
Archosauromorpha(Huene 1946)
Crocopoda
ArchosauriformesGauthier 1986
Eucrocopoda
Archosauria()
informalAvemetatarsalia
Ornithodira
Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauriformes
Dinosauria()
Theropoda()
Neotheropoda
AverostraPaul 2002
Tetanurae
superfamilyMegalosauroidea()
familyMegalosauridae()
subfamilyMegalosaurinae
genusMegalosaurus
speciesbucklandiiMantell 1827

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

Megalosaurus bucklandii Mantell 1827
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Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
R. B. J. Benson et al. 2008Theropod dinosaur with the following autapomorphic features of the dentary: 13–14 teeth, a longitudinal groove in the ventral part of the lateral surface and a slit-like foramen anterior to the termination of the Meckelian groove.
M. T. Carrano et al. 2012Megalosauroid theropod with a unique combination of: (1) 13–14 dentary teeth (modified from Waldman 1974); (2) unexpanded third dentary alveolus (Benson 2010a); (3) dentary straight in dorsal view with unexpanded symphyseal area (modified from Waldman 1974); (4) lateral row of neurovascular foramina housed in shallow longitudinal groove in lateral dentary surface (Benson 2010a); (5) tall, unfused paradental plates on dentary (Benson 2010a); (6) two Meckelian foramina (Benson 2010a); and (7) shallow Meckelian groove (Benson 2010a).
The referred materials of M. bucklandii exhibit additional autapomorphies, including: (1) evenly rounded ventral surfaces of sacral centra 1 and 3–5, with angular, longitudinal ridge on ventral surface of sacral centrum 2 (Benson 2010a); (2) dorsally directed flange at mid-height of scapular blade (Waldman, 1974); (3) array of posterodorsally inclined grooves on lateral surface of median iliac ridge (Benson 2010a); (4) anteroposteriorly thick ischial apron with nearly flat medial surface (Benson 2010a); (5) prominent, rugose distal ischial tubercle (Benson 2010a); and (6) complementary groove-and-ridge structures on articular surfaces between metatarsals II and III (Benson 2010a).
Finally, M. bucklandii possesses several characters that are not unique but are absent in all other megalosaurids, such as: (1) pneumatic jugal; (2) unexpanded third dentary alveolus; (3) dorsal neural spines more than 1.9 times centrum height; and (4) anterolaterally inclined deltopectoral crest. Uniquely among megalosauroids, the maxillary anterior process is taller dorsoventrally than it is long anteroposteriorly (Benson 2010a).