View source for Fabrosaurus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of ornithischian dinosaurs from the early Jurassic}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Early Jurassic]], {{Fossil range|199|189}}
| image = Fabrosaurus australis mandible.jpg
| image_caption = Holotype dentary
| taxon = Fabrosaurus
| authority = Ginsburg, [[1964 in paleontology|1964]]<ref name="ginsburg1964"/>
| type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Fabrosaurus australis'''''
| type_species_authority = Ginsburg, 1964
}}

'''''Fabrosaurus''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|f|æ|b|r|ə|ˈ|s|ɔːr|ə|s}}{{refn|{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Fabrosaurus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322184441/https://www.lexico.com/definition/fabrosaurus |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-03-22 |title=Fabrosaurus |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}} }} {{respell|FAB|rə|SOR|əs}}) is a [[Nomen dubium|dubious]] [[extinct]] [[genus]] of [[ornithischia]]n [[dinosaur]] that lived during  the [[Early Jurassic]] during the [[Hettangian]] to [[Sinemurian]] [[faunal stage|stages]] 199 - 189 [[mya (unit)|mya]].

''Fabrosaurus'' was named and described by [[Paleontology|paleontologist]] Leonard Ginsburg in 1964 based on the [[holotype]] specimen, MNHN LES9, a partial jawbone with three teeth. The name ''Fabrosaurus'' means "Fabre's lizard", honoring Jean Fabre, a French [[geologist]] and a colleague of Ginsburg on the expedition that collected the fossil in [[Basutoland]] (now [[Lesotho]]). The [[type species]], ''F. australis'', was named for the location of the fossil in the [[Elliot Formation]], Lesotho, [[Southern Africa]]. ''Fabrosaurus'' was initially placed within [[Scelidosauridae]] by Ginsburg, but later studies have placed it as a basal ornithischian.

Subsequent discoveries included two crushed skulls and disarticulated post-cranial bones (including vertebrae, ribs, and limb bones), allowing for a more complete reconstruction. However, as additional ornithischian fossils were discovered, the features of ''F. australis'' were thought to be shared by other species, and by the 1990s and 2000s most authors working with the group found ''Fabrosaurus'' to be a ''nomen dubium'' (doubtful name), finding the [[holotype]] material described by Ginsburg to be insufficient to distinguish a new taxon. Some claim the fossils represent simple variation of ''[[Lesothosaurus]]'', which is regarded as a valid taxon.

==History of discovery==
A 1959 expedition to [[South Africa]] by French palaeontologists François Ellenberger, Jean Fabre, and Leonard Ginsburg discovered remains in a fossiliferous level of the upper Red Beds of the [[Stormberg Group]] (now [[upper Elliot Formation]]) of a [[tritylodont]] and an early [[ornithischian]], at a locality named Likhoele near [[Mafeteng]], Basutoland (now Lesotho). Both specimens were then described by Ginsburg in 1961 and [[1964 in paleontology|1964]] respectively, with the ornithischian being named ''Fabrosaurus australis''.<ref name="ginsburg1964"/><ref name="ginsburg1961"/> ''Fabrosaurus'' is known from a single partial jaw bone with well-preserved teeth, stored at the [[Muséum national d'histoire naturelle]] as MNHN LES9.<ref name="ginsburg1964"/><ref name="sereno1991"/> The [[genus name]] is in honour of Jean Fabre who was part of the expedition with Ginsburg, while the [[species name]] is a reference to the country of origin.<ref name="ginsburg1964"/> Ginsburg named ''Fabrosaurus'' for his partial jaw despite being aware that other far more complete material of early ornithischians had already been discovered from nearby localities.<ref name="gow1991"/> This more complete material was found in a 1963-1964 expedition of the [[University College London]] to Lesotho by K. Kermack and F. Mussett, and included at least three partial skulls and skeletons, [[Natural History Museum London|NHMUK]] RUB17 and RUB23. NHMUK RUB17 was found on the north side of Likhoele Mountain, while NHMUK RUB23 was from a hillside between Fort Hartley and Cutting Camp in southwest Lesotho.<ref name="thulborn1970"/>

These new specimens were described by Australian palaeontologist [[Richard Thulborn]] as material of ''Fabrosaurus'' in 1970, 1971 and 1972, greatly expanding the known information of the taxon and making it the best-known early ornithischian.<ref name="thulborn1970"/><ref name="thulborn1972"/> While Ginsburg had originally considered ''Fabrosaurus'' to be a [[scelidosaurid]], Thulborn instead identified it as a separate group of early ornithischian ("fabrosaurs"), which was named [[Fabrosauridae]] in 1972 by British palaeontologist [[Peter Galton]].<ref name="galton1972"/> However, in 1974 British palaeontologist [[Alan J. Charig]] and South African palaeontologist [[Alfred W. Crompton]] found that the features characteristic of the [[holotype]] of ''Fabrosaurus'', MNHN LES9, were not unique to it among early ornithischians, and that the taxon should be considered an undiagnostic ''[[nomen dubium]]''. As a result, they removed the specimens described by Thulborn from ''Fabrosaurus'', restricting it to its type.<ref name="charig1974"/> This led to Galton separating the more complete material as the new genus ''[[Lesothosaurus]]'' in 1978, leaving ''Fabrosaurus'' as a potentially dubious taxon restricted to its type, though he believed it could be separated from ''Lesothosaurus''.<ref name="galton1978"/> Further material of ''Lesothosaurus'' was found by a joint expedition of the NHMUK, [[University of London]], [[Yale University]] and [[South African Museum]] in 1967-1968 but only described later in 1984.<ref name="sereno1991"/> The separation of ''Lesothosaurus'' and ''Fabrosaurus'' was disputed in 1991 by South African palaeontologist C.E. Gow, but supported by American palaeontologist [[Paul C. Sereno]], with later authors agreeing that ''Fabrosaurus'' cannot be distinguished.<ref name="gow1991"/><ref name="sereno1991"/><ref name="butler2005"/>

==References==
{{Portal|Dinosaurs}}
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="ginsburg1961">{{cite journal|last=Ginsburg|first=L.|year=1961|title=Un nouveau Tritylodonte du Trias supérieur du Basutoland (Afrique du Sud)|journal=Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences|volume=252|issue=3|pages=3853–3854}}</ref>
<ref name="ginsburg1964">{{cite journal|last=Ginsburg|first=L.|year=1964|title=Decouverte d’un Scelidosaurien (Dinosaure ornithischien) dans le Trias superieur du Basutoland|journal=Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences|volume=258|issue=1|pages=2366–2368}}</ref>
<ref name="thulborn1970">{{cite journal|last=Thulborn|first=R.A.|author-link=Richard Thulborn|year=1970|title=The skull of ''Fabrosaurus australis'', a Triassic ornithischian dinosaur|journal=Palaeontology|volume=13|issue=3|pages=414–432}}</ref>
<ref name="thulborn1972">{{cite journal|last=Thulborn|first=R.A.|author-link=Richard Thulborn|year=1972|title=The post-cranial skeleton of the Triassic ornithischian dinosaur ''Fabrosaurus australis''|journal=Palaeontology|volume=15|issue=1|pages=29–60}}</ref>
<ref name="galton1972">{{cite journal|last=Galton|first=P.M.|author-link=Peter Galton|year=1972|title=Classification and Evolution of Ornithopod Dinosaurs|journal=Nature|volume=239|pages=464–466}}</ref>
<ref name="charig1974">{{cite journal|last1=Charig|first1=A.J.|author-link1=Alan J. Charig|last2=Crompton|first2=A.W.|author-link2=Alfred W. Crompton|year=1974|title=The alleged synonymy of ''Lycorhinus'' and ''Heterodontosaurus''|journal=Annals of the South African Museum|volume=64|pages=167–189}}</ref>
<ref name="galton1978">{{cite journal|last=Galton|first=P.M.|author-link=Peter Galton|year=1978|title=Fabrosauridae, the basal family of ornithischian dinosaurs (Reptilia: Ornithopoda)|journal=Paläontologische Zeitschrift|volume=52|issue=1|pages=138–159|doi=10.1007/BF03006735|bibcode=1978PalZ...52..138G|s2cid=84613826|issn=0031-0220|eissn=1867-6812}}</ref>
<ref name="gow1991">{{cite journal|last=Gow|first=C.E.|year=1991|title=Taxonomy of the Fabrosauridae (Reptilia, Ornithischia) and the ''Lesothosaurus'' Myth|journal=South African Journal of Science|volume=77|page=43}}</ref>
<ref name="sereno1991">{{cite journal|last=Sereno|first=P.C.|author-link=Paul C. Sereno|year=1991|title=''Lesothosaurus'', "Fabrosaurids," and the early evolution of Ornithischia|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=11|issue=2|pages=168–197|doi=10.1080/02724634.1991.10011386|bibcode=1991JVPal..11..168S |issn=0272-4634}}</ref>
<ref name="butler2005">{{cite journal|last1=Butler|first1=R.J.|year=2005|title=The 'fabrosaurid' ornithischian dinosaurs of the Upper Elliot Formation (Lower Jurassic) of South Africa and Lesotho|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=145|issue=2|pages=175–218|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2005.00182.x}}</ref>
}}

{{Ornithischia|H.}}
{{Geology of South Africa|paleontology}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q134652}}

[[Category:Ornithischia]]
[[Category:Dinosaur genera]]
[[Category:Sinemurian dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Elliot Formation]]
[[Category:Fossil taxa described in 1964]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs of Lesotho]]