Genus
Valid Extinct

Ornithopsis

Seeley 1870

Ornithopsis is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of England and possibly Germany. The type species, which is the only species seen as valid today, is O. hulkei, which is only known from fragmentary remains.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
6
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Ornithopsis
click to enlarge
BMNH R28632, the lectotype vertebra of Ornithopsis hulkei. © Mike Taylor · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Saurischia Unranked clade
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Sauropodomorpha Unranked clade
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Massopoda Unranked clade
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Sauropodiformes Unranked clade
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Sauropoda Unranked clade
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Gravisauria Unranked clade
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Eusauropoda Unranked clade
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Neosauropoda Unranked clade
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Macronaria Unranked clade
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Titanosauriformes Unranked clade
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Ornithopsis Genus
Fossil sites 6 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
5
🇩🇪 Germany
1
Geological formations
Wessex
2
Portland Stone
1
Temporal distribution
Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)
2
Hauterivian (132.6–125.77 Ma)
3
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
1
Species (2)
Bothriospondylus magnus objective synonym of Ornithopsis hulkei 133 Ma
Ornithopsis hulkei 133 Ma
Images 2
Bibliography
Original description
H. G. Seeley. 1870. On Ornithopsis, a gigantic animal of the pterodactyle kind from the Wealden. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 4 5:279-283 DOI ↗
Bibliography (6)
J. J. Hornung, S. Sachs, and A. H. Schwermann. 2023. The first record of sauropod dinosaurs from a palaeotopographical upland environment and its implications for megaherbivorous dinosaur faunal turnover in the Early Cretaceous of northwestern Europe. Geologie und Paläontologie in Westfalen 97:3-36
J. B. Delair. 1993. Reptilia from the Portland Stone (Upper Jurassic) of England: a preliminary survey of the material and the literature. Modern Geology 18:331-348
H. G. Seeley. 1882. On a remarkable dinosaurian coracoid from the Wealden of Brook in the Isle of Wight, preserved in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge, probably referable to <i>Ornithopsis</i>. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 38:367-371 DOI ↗
J. W. Hulke. 1879. Note (3rd) on (<i>Eucamerotus</i>, Hulke) <i>Ornithopsis</i>, H. G. Seeley, = <i>Bothriospondylus magnus</i> Owen, = <i>Chondrosteosaurus magnus</i>, Owen. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 35:752-762 DOI ↗
R. Owen. 1875. Monographs on the fossil Reptilia of the Mesozoic formations. Part II. (Genera Bothriospondylus, Cetiosaurus, Omosaurus). 29:15-93 DOI ↗
H. G. Seeley. 1870. On Ornithopsis, a gigantic animal of the pterodactyle kind from the Wealden. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 4 5:279-283 DOI ↗