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CALAMOSAURUS

a small coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of England.
Pronunciation: kal-uh-mo-SOR-us
Meaning: Reed lizard
Author/s: Lydekker (1891)
Synonyms: Calamospondylus foxi (Lydekker, 1889)
First Discovery: Isle of Wight, UK
Discovery Chart Position: #76

Calamosaurus foxii

(Fox's Reed Lizard)Etymology
Calamosaurus is derived from the Greek "kalamos" (reed) and "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, foxi, honours Reverand William Fox. Lydekker initially chose the name Calamospondylus, but that name had already been coined for another dinosaur, ironically by the same William Fox that Lydekker honoured with the species name, foxi.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Early Cretaceous
Stage: Barremian
Age range: 125-121 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: ?
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Fox WD as Anonymous (1866) "Another Wealden reptile." Athenaeum, 2014: 740.
• Lydekker R (1889) "VIII—On a coelurid dinosaur from the Wealden." Geological Magazine, 6(3): 119-121. DOI: 10.1017/s0016756800176149. [These specimens (B.M. No. R. 901) formed part of the collection of the late Rev. Mr. Fox, and clearly indicate a small Dinosaur allied to the genus Coelurus.]
• Lydekker R (1891) "On certain ornithosaurian and dinosaurian remains." Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 47: 41-44. DOI: 10.1144/GSL.JGS.1891.047.01-04.0.
• Swinton WE (1936) "The dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight." Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 47(3): 204-220.
• Romer AS (1956) "Osteology of the Reptiles".
• Norman DB (1990) "Problematic Theropoda: Coelurosaurs". Page 280-305 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "The Dinosauria: First Edition".
• Naish D (1999) "Studies on Wealden Group theropods – an investigation into the historical taxonomy and phylogenetic affinities of new and previously neglected specimens". MPhil thesis, University of Portsmouth.
• Naish D (1999) "Theropod dinosaur diversity and palaeobiology in the Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous) of England: evidence from a previously undescribed tibia". Geologie en Mijnbouw, 78: 367-373.
• Naish D, Hutt S and Martill DM (2001) "Saurischian dinosaurs 2: theropods". Page 242-309 in Martill and Naish (eds.) "Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight".
• Naish D (2002) "The historical taxonomy of the Lower Cretaceous theropods (Dinosauria) Calamospondylus and Aristosuchus from the Isle of Wight". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 113(2): 153-163.
• Holtz Jr TR, Molnar RE and Currie PJ (2004) "Basal Tetanurae". Page 71-110 in Weishampel, Dodson and Osmólska (eds.) "The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
• Galton PM and Molnar RE (2005) "Tibiae of small theropod dinosaurs from Southern England: from the Middle Jurassic of Stonesfield near Oxford and the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight". In Carpenter (ed.) "The Carnivorous Dinosaurs".
• Naish D (2011) "Theropod dinosaurs". Page 526–559 in Batten (ed.) "English Wealden Fossils" (Field Guide to Fossils Number 14).
• Makovicky PJ, Mitchell JS, Meso JG, Gianechini FA, Cerda I and Apesteguía S (2026) "Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade". Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10194-3.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L. "CALAMOSAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
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