Outline: a typical theropod
Becklespinax
"Beckles's spine"
- Lived
- 139 to 133 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Length
- about 5 m (16 ft)
- Group
- Theropods
- Named by
- Olshevsky 1991
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical theropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
No finds with map coordinates are recorded yet.
Field notes
About Becklespinax
What it was like
Becklespinax was a large meat eater, about 5 meters (16 feet) long, known only from three backbones. The spines on those backbones were very tall, so it may have had a ridge or low sail along its back.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now southern England.
How it was found
Its backbones were found long ago and were first placed in other genera. Olshevsky gave them a new name in 1991, honoring the collector who first found them. Some scientists use the older name Altispinax for the same bones.
Close relatives
Other members of Tetanurae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: G. Olshevsky. 1991. A revision of the parainfraclass Archosauria Cope, 1869, excluding the advanced Crocodylia. Mesozoic Meanderings 2:1-196