sauro-, saur-, -saurus, -saurid, -saur, -sauria, -saurian

“Porto Dinheiro lizard” from Late Jurassic Portugal. Named for Porto Dinheiro, west-central Portugal in 199
9. Named by José Bonaparte and Octavio Mateus in 1999.

Meaning, “a terrible lizard”, is a general name for two orders of extinct reptiles, the “lizard-hipped” Saurischia and the “bird-hipped” Ornithischia. Certain types of saurischian dinosaurs were the largest animals ever to live on land.

Known as “fearfully-great lizards” or “terrible lizards”, these terrestrial or amphibious reptiles were often of great size from the Triassic and Cretaceous periods. Although most were herbivorous, some of the later species in the Cretaceous period were carnivorous and probably extremely fierce. Dinosauria are the most recent common ancestor of Triceratops and modern birds, and all its descendants. Dinosaurs were wholly terrestrial, with no known aquatic species. Only one major clade of dinosaurs, Aves (“birds”), survives today. Coined by Sir Richard Owen in 1841.

Of, relating to, or characteristic of a dinosaur.

Resembling or like a dinosaur.

One who specializes in the study of dinosaurs.

The study of dinosaurs.

This nomenclature (“terrible lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Plateosaurus.

A “disk (vertebra) lizard” from Late Cretaceous North America. Named by Joseph Leidy in 1852.

This nomenclature (“spear-carrier lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Kentrosaurus. Named by Franz Baron Nopcsa in 1916.

“Dravidanadu lizard” from Late Cretaceous southern India. It was named for Dravidandu, the region of the southern Indian peninsula where it was found. Named by P. Yadagiri and K. Ayyasami in 1979.

A “running (swift) lizard” from Late Cretaceous Alberta, Canada, and USA. Named by George Frederic Matthew (1837-?) and paleontologist Barnum Brown (1873-1963) in 1922.

This nomenclature (“quickly-walking lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Massospondylus. Named by van Hoepener in 1920.

An “oak (tree) lizard” from Middle-Late Jurassic western USA, eastern England, Tanzania, and Romania.

The name refers to the dinosaur's forest habitat and leaf-eating diet. The word drys meant a large tree in ancient Greek, in particular the oak.

Although the meaning “oak” is used in botanical nomenclature, the more general meaning “tree” is nearly universal in zoological nomenclature, apart from a few insect names. For example, the name Dryophis, “tree snake” was used for a snake found in Africa, and has no connection with the “oak tree.”

Although Marsh’s published etymology of Dryolestes defines drys as “tree”, a number of modern sources seem to be fixated on interpreting the similar name Dryosaurus as “oak lizard”, even suggesting that its teeth resembled oak leaves.

Marsh published no descriptions of the teeth that cite such a detail. In fact, only one tooth was known for the type specimen of D. altus, and it is hard to see how the typically rounded lobate shapes of oak leaves in any way resemble the slightly serrate, ridged teeth of Dryosaurus.

The broader interpretation “tree lizard” fits Marsh’s own comments about the forest environment of ancient Wyoming and Colorado, as well as following common usage in zoological nomenclature. This creature was formerly called a Dysalotosaurus. Named by Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1899) in 1894.

A family of “wounding lizard” from Late Cretaceous North America and Asia.