Fulgurotherium

Fulgurotherium; Temporal range: Early-mid Cenomanian; ~99–96 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Femur fragment
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Neornithischia
Genus:	†Fulgurotherium; von Huene, 1932
Species:	†F. australe
Binomial name
	†Fulgurotherium australe; von Huene, 1932

Fulgurotherium (meaning "Lightning beast") is the name given to a genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation. It lived in what is now Australia.

The type species, Fulgurotherium australe, was named by Friedrich von Huene in 1932.^[1] The genus name is derived from Latin fulgur, "lightning", and Greek therion, "beast", a reference to the Lightning Ridge site in New South Wales. The specific name means "southern" in Latin. The holotype is BMNH R.3719, the opalised lower end of a femur, indicating a total body length of 1 to 1.5 metres.

Von Huene thought it was a theropod, a member of the Ornithomimidae.^[2] It has later been described as a hypsilophodont, a primitive ornithopod.^[3] However, this was based on a contentious reference of bones found in the Dinosaur Cove, leading to a possible confusion between multiple species of Euornithopoda. Most researchers today consider it a nomen dubium.

Its name is an unusual example of a name in which -therium was used for an animal which is not an extinct mammal.

References[]

^ F. v. Huene, (1932), "Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte", Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, serie 1 4(1-2): 1-361
^ F. v. Huene, (1944) , "Aussichtsreiche Fundgegenden für künftige Sauriergrabungen", Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte, Abteilung B 88: 441-451
^ R. E. Molnar and P. M. Galton, (1986), "Hypsilophodontid dinosaurs from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia", Géobios 19(2): 231-239

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[1] F. v. Huene, (1932), "Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte", Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, serie 1 4(1-2): 1-361

[2] F. v. Huene, (1944) , "Aussichtsreiche Fundgegenden für künftige Sauriergrabungen", Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte, Abteilung B 88: 441-451

[3] R. E. Molnar and P. M. Galton, (1986), "Hypsilophodontid dinosaurs from Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia", Géobios 19(2): 231-239

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Fulgurotherium

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