Nopcsaspondylus

Nopcsaspondylus is known from a single back vertebra that was collected in 1889 by Slovenian researcher Hugo Zapałowicz.1

The vertebra was first described by Hungarian paleontologist Franz Nopcsa in 1902, who thought it belonged to the dinosaur Bothriospondylus.1

The fossil was lost after Nopcsa studied it, so scientists today can only rely on old descriptions and drawings.1

In 2007, Argentine paleontologist Sebastián Apesteguía gave the dinosaur its own name, Nopcsaspondylus alarconensis.1

Nopcsaspondylus was a rebbachisaurid, a group of sauropods with hollow spaces in their vertebrae.1

A 2026 study said Nopcsaspondylus is a nomen dubium, meaning its fossil is too incomplete to tell it apart from other dinosaurs.1