''Dinodocus'' (meaning "terrible beam") is a genus of

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...

dinosaur, named by

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Owe ...

in 1884. The name is now usually considered a ''

nomen dubium In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application. Zoology In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...

''. The only species, ''D. mackesoni'', a name given to some fossil bones from the Lower Greensand Group (Lower Cretaceous) of

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

, Kent, England, were formerly placed in the genus '' Pelorosaurus'' ( Mantell, 1850), but a review by Upchurch et al. (2004) concluded that ''Dinodocus'' is a ''

''.Upchurch, P., Barrett, P.M. and Dodson, P. 2004. Sauropoda. In The Dinosauria, 2nd edition. D. Weishampel, P. Dodson, and H. Osmólska (eds.). University of California Press, Berkeley. Pp. 259–322.

Discovery and naming

The holotype was discovered in 1840 by Mr H. B. Mackeson. In 1841,

noted on the fossils. The holotype, NHMUK 14695, was listed by Owen as "''portions of the corocoid, humerus and ulna, iliac, ischial and pubic bones, a large portion of the shaft of a femur, parts of a tibia and fibula, and several metatarsal bones''". Owen assigned the specimen to the pliosaur ''

Polyptychodon ''Polyptychodon'' (meaning 'shaped fin tooth') is a genus of pliosaurid found in Middle-Late Cretaceous marine deposits in southern England, France and Argentina. It has been considered a ''nomen dubium'' in a 2016 review. History of discovery ...

''.Owen R (1841) "Report on British Fossil Reptiles. Part II". Page 195. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 11th Meeting (1841). In 1850, Gideon Mantell assigned the specimen to '' Pelorosaurus'' but

placed the fossils in a separate genus, ''Dinodocus'', in 1884. In 1908, ''Dinodocus'' was synonymized with ''Pelorosaurus'' again, this time by Arthur Smith Woodward.Woodward A S (May 1908) "Note on Dinodocus mackesoni, a cetiosaurian from the Lower Greensand of Kent". Geological Magazine 5(5): 204-206. In 2004, Paul Upchurch validated the genus ''Dinodocus''.

References

Early Cretaceous dinosaurs of Europe Sauropods Nomina dubia Taxa named by Richard Owen Fossil taxa described in 1884 {{Sauropodomorph-stub