In 1888, Richard Lydekker compared these vertebrae with material referred to "Megalosaurus dunkeri", a Cretaceous species represented by a single tooth found in Germany. In 1923 Friedrich von Huene created a separate genus for "Megalosaurus dunkeri". He used the three vertebrae as the basis for this genus, noting that they were different from "Megalosaurus", and created the name "Altispinax" (meaning "with high spines") based on their appearance. Many later researchers concluded that "Megalosaurus dunkeri" had therefore received a new genus name as "Altispinax dunkeri", a combination actually used for the first time in 1939 by Oskar Kuhn.