Bothriospondylus

*Bothriospondylus suffosus*

***Bothriospondylus*** is a Brachiosaur from late Jurassic Madagascar. It was 65.9 feet (20.1 meters) and weighed 3 tons (6,000 lbs). Known from various bones and teeth, a good skeleton in France has been discovered, but this was made into vouivria in 2017.

## Discovery and naming

The type species, *Bothriospondylus suffossus*, was described by Richard Owen in 1875. The specific epithet *suffossus* means "undermined" in Latin, a reference to the fact that pleurocoels had hollowed out the sides of the vertebra. It is often incorrectly spelled as "suffosus". Owen based the species on holotype **NHMUK R.44592-5**, a set of four dorsal vertebrae found in Wiltshire in stratum from the Kimmeridgian, the Kimmeridge Clay. Also three unfused sacral vertebrae were referred.

At the same time Owen named three other species of *Bothriospondylus*. *B. robustus* was based on NHMUK R.22428, a dorsal from the same location. *B. elongatus* was based on a vertebra from Sussex, NHMUK R.2239, an original syntype of *Ornithopsis hulkei*. Finally, *Bothriospondylus magnus* was a new name for another syntype of *Ornithopsis hulkei* Seeley 1870, the present lectotype NHMUK 28632.[1] Owen himself in an addendum to the same publication renamed *B. robustus* to *Marmarospondylus robustus*. Friedrich von Huene in 1908 referred the material to *Pelorosaurus* and in 1922 made *B. suffossus* into a *Ornithopsis suffossa* because the latter generic name has priority.

More complete material from Madagascar was named by Richard Lydekker as a fifth species, *Bothriospondylus madagascariensis*. Franz Nopcsa in 1902 assigned to *Bothriospondylus* a vertebra from Argentina that later would be renamed *Nopcsaspondylus*. A skeleton from France was assigned to *Bothriospondylus madagascariensis*, but has been described as a new genus and species of brachiosaurid, *Vouivria*.

In 1986 José Fernando Bonaparte moved material from "B." *sp.* into its own genus, *Lapparentosaurus*. The material, sometimes referred to *B. madagascariensis*, was separated into a few dorsal vertebrae to be the new lectotype of *Lapparentosaurus*.

A revision in 2010 by Philip Mannion concluded that *Bothriospondylus* is a *nomen dubium*. However, *"Bothriospondylus" madagascariensis* was treated as valid and distinct from other Middle Jurassic sauropods from Madagascar.

## Classification

*Bothriospondylus* has over the years been assigned to many groups — even in a Bothriospondylidae of its own — with Brachiosauridae lately being the most popular designation. However, the sparse and eroded material shows no synapomorphies of the Brachiosauridae and cannot be further determined than a very general Neosauropoda.

### Current species

Humerus of "B. madagascariensis" (*Vouivria*)

Only the type species of *Bothriospondylus* can be referred, because of the dubious nature of the genus.

* *Bothriospondylus suffossus* Owen, 1875 (type species) = *Ornithopsis suffosa* (Owen, 1875) von Huene, 1922
* "Bothriospondylus" madagascariensis Lydekker, 1895 NHM R2598 NHM R2596–2615, R16588, R16589 Isalo III Formation, Madagascar, Middle Jurassic, Non neosauropod-eusauropod distinct from *Lapparentosaurus.*

### Reassigned species

Several species have been referred to *Bothriospondylus* over its existence, with nearly all being reassigned to a new genus.

* *Bothriospondylus robustus* Owen, 1875 renamed *Marmarospondylus* (Owen, 1875) Owen, 1875
* *Bothriospondylus elongatus* Owen, 1875 non *Bothriospondylus*[6]
* *Bothriospondylus magnus* Owen, 1875 objective synonym of *Ornithopsis hulkei* Seeley, 1870
* *Bothriospondylus madagascariensis* Lydekker, 1895 renamed *Vouivria* (Mannion, Allain & Moine, 2017)
* "Bothriospondylus madagascariensis" Lydekker, 1895 removed from species and named *Lapparentosaurus* Bonaparte, 1986
* "Bothriospondylus" Lydekker, 1895

## JPInstitute.com Description

Bothriospondylus was a huge plant-eater related to Brachiosaurus.

It was described by Sir Richard Owen in 1875 and he based his description on a few backbones. Like Brachiosaurus, it would have had front legs longer than its back legs and probably held its head high above the ground to feed on the upper branches of trees.

There is no modern scientific description of Bothriospondylus. In the last part of the 20th century, two species of this genus were reassigned to Pelorosaurus. A species found in Madagascar has not been widely accepted as belonging to this genus.

## Links

https://web.archive.org/web/20031008033803fw\_/http://www.jpinstitute.com/dinopedia/dinocards/dc\_bothr.html