List of lost dinosaur specimens

This list of lost, damaged, or destroyed dinosaur specimens enumerates those fossil dinosaur specimens that have been discovered only to be lost or damaged after initial documentation. Some of these specimens which had gone missing were later recovered as well.

Uncollected specimens

Nickname	Taxon	Age	Unit	Country	Notes	Images
Nose Mountain theropod track	Tyrannosauridae	Maastrichtian	Wapiti Formation	Canada	Single highly pathological tyrannosaur footprint that was buried under a landslide before it could be collected

Destroyed specimens

Nickname	Catalogue Number	Institution	Taxon	Age	Unit	Country	Notes	Images
	1912VIII61		Aegyptosaurus	Upper Cretaceous	Bahariya Formation	Egypt	Destroyed in Germany during World War II when the bombing of the museum it was held in took place.	File:Aegyptosaurus-holotype.jpg Holotype remains
	IPHG 1922 X 47, X 48		Bahariasaurus	Upper Cretaceous	Bahariya Formation	Egypt	Destroyed in World War II	File:Bahariasaurus vertebra.png Vertebra
	IPHG 1922 X46		Carcharodontosaurus	Upper Cretaceous		Algeria	Destroyed in World War II. Used by Ernst Stromer to erect Carcharodontosaurus for "Megalosaurus" saharicus.	File:Carcharodontosaurus saharicus skull diagram.jpg Skull of the lost specimen
	MNHN 2001-4		Erectopus	Lower Cretaceous		France	Destroyed in World War II	File:Megalosaurus superbus Sauvage.png Holotype remains
			Kentrosaurus	Upper Jurassic		Tanzania	Most specimens, although not all, were destroyed when the German museum that they were in was bombed in World War II.
			Podokesaurus	Lower Jurassic		United States	The original specimen was destroyed in a museum fire.	File:Podokesaurus holotype.jpg Type specimen
			Poekilopleuron	Middle Jurassic		France	Destroyed in World War II	File:Poekilopleuron bucklandi.JPG Cast of the lost gastralia
	BSP 1912 VIII 19		Spinosaurus	Lower and Upper Cretaceous	Bahariya Formation	Egypt	Destroyed in Germany during World War II when the bombing of the museum it was held in took place. More material has been discovered since.	File:Spinosaurus holotype.jpg Illustration of the destroyed specimen

Lost specimens

Nickname	Catalogue Number	Institution	Taxon	Age	Unit	Country	Notes	Images
Specimen 9	None		Corythosaurus			Canada		File:Hunting dinosaurs in the bad lands of the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada; a sequel to The life of a fossil hunter (1917) (20135543774).jpg Excavation of one of the lost Corythosaurus specimens
Specimen 13	None		Corythosaurus			Canada
Cardiodon type specimen			Cardiodon	Middle Jurassic	Forest Marble Formation	United Kingdom		File:Cardiodon.jpg Holotype tooth
Type specimen of Amphicoelias fragillimus	AMNH 5777	American Museum of Natural History	Amphicoelias fragillimus	Late Jurassic	Morrison Formation	United States	Named as the holotype of Amphicoelias fragillimus by Edward Drinker Cope and then subsequently lost. It is possible that Cope himself or someone else disposed of it, or that it crumbled because of inadequate preservation methods.	File:Maraapunisaurus fragillimus holotype illustration.png Only illustration of the vertebra
Companion tracks of MGUH 27219	N/A	Geological Museum of Copenhagen	Thyreophora	Rhaetian	Hoganas Formation	Sweden		File:Dinosaur track from Sweden.jpg Cast of the collected track

Recovered specimens

Nickname	Catalogue Number	Institution	Taxon	Age	Unit	Country	Notes	Images
Holotype of Aepisaurus elephantinus			Aepisaurus	Middle Cretaceous (Albian)		France	Named as holotype of Aepisaurus elephantinus. Rediscovered in 2006	File:Aepisaurus.JPG Cast of the humerus

References

• Carpenter, K. (2006). "Biggest of the big: a critical re-evaluation of the mega-sauropod Amphicoelias fragillimus." In Foster, J.R. and Lucas, S.G., eds., 2006, Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 36: 131–138.
• Spalding, D. A., 2001, Bones of contention: Charles H. Sternberg's lost world: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 481–503.