| Fulgurotherium australe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Name | Fulgurotherium australe | |||
| Order | Ornithischia | |||
| Suborder | Cerapoda | |||
| Class | Sauropsida | |||
| Name Translation | Lightning Beast | |||
| Period | Early Cretaceous 110 million years ago | |||
| Location | Australia | |||
| Diet | Plants | |||
| Size | 2 metres (6 feet) long and 1 metre (3 feet) long | |||
Fulgurotherium (meaning "Lightning Beast") is the name given to a genus of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Albian). It lived in what is now Australia.
The type species, Fulgurotherium australe, was named and formalised by Friedrich von Huene in 1932 but the animal may be a chimera based on multiple species of Ornithopods. The genus name is derived from Latin, Fulguro, meaning "lightning", and Greek, therium, meaning "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, which is 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.
It has later been described as a hypsilophodont, a primitive ornithopod. However, this was based on a contentious reference of bones found in the Dinosaur Cave, leading to a possible confusion between multiple species of Euornithopoda. Most researchers today consider it a nomen dubium. Fulgurotherium was a hypsilophodont, a primitive ornithopod.
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