GERANOSAURUS
a type of heterodontosaurid ornithischian dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of South Africa.
Pronunciation: juh-RAN-o-SOR-us
Meaning: Crane lizard
Author/s: Broom (
1911)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Cape Province, South Africa
Discovery Chart Position: #99
Geranosaurus atavus
(Crane lizard, ancestor)Etymology
Geranosaurus is derived from the Greek "geranos" (crane), in reference to its thin hind limbs, like those of a crane (a type of bird), and "sauros" (lizard). Funnily enough, Broome was far from convinced that those name-prompting limbs actually belonged to
Geranosaurus, the type of which is a couple of jaw bones.
The
species epithet,
atavus, means "ancestor" in Latin.
Discovery
The remains of
Geranosaurus were discovered at "the road-cutting near the summit of the Barkly Pass" in the Clarens Formation (formerly the Cave Sandstone), Cape Province, South Africa, by Mr. G. S. T. Mandy in 1871.
The
holotype (SAM-PK-K1871) is a partial maxilla (tooth-bearing bone of the upper jaw) with a few tooth crowns that were lost long ago, and a lower jaw. Some vertebrae and limb elements (SAM-PK-K1857) were discovered nearby but seem oversized compared to the holotype.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Early Jurassic
Stage: Pliensbachian-Toarcian
Age range: 190-182 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 1.2 meters
Est. max. hip height: 0.5 meters
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Omnivore
References
• Broom R (1911) "On the dinosaurs of the Stormberg, South Africa".
Annals of the South African Museum, 7(4): 291-308.
• Hopson JA (1980) "Tooth function and replacement in early Mesozoic ornithischian dinosaurs: implications for aestivation".
Lethaia, 13: 93-105. DOI: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.1980.tb01035.x.
• Norman DB, Crompton AW, Butler RJ, Porro LB and Charig AJ (2011) "The Lower Jurassic ornithischian dinosaur
Heterodontosaurus tucki Crompton and Charig 1962: cranial anatomy, functional morphology, taxonomy, and relationships".
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 162: 182-279.
• Sereno PC (2012) "
Taxonomy, morphology, masticatory function and phylogeny of heterodontosaurid dinosaurs".
ZooKeys, 226(226): 1-225. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.223.2840.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
GERANOSAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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