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

A “Herbst’s lizard” from Middle Jurassic Argentina. Named in honor of R. Herbst, an Argentine fossil collector who discovered the specimen. It was first described as a Compsognathus-like dinosaur. Named by Argentinian paleontologist Rodolfo. M. Casamiquela in 1974.

“Herrera’s lizard” from Late Triassic northwest Argentina. Named for Don Victorino Herrera, a rancher and guide in the Ishigualasto region, San Juan Province, northwest Argentina, who led the paleontologists to the site where the first specimen was found. Named by Osvaldo A. Reig in 1963 from a specimen found in 1958.

Early, sharp-toothed lizard-hipped dinosaurs much like Staurikosaurids. They lived later and had rather different types of hip and leg bones, with longer thighs than shins, and maybe longer arms.

These “different-teeth lizards”, from Early Jurassic southern Africa, where small, early bird-hipped bipeds resembling Fabrosaurids, their likely ancestors.

A “differently-toothed lizard” or “mixed-teeth lizard”; from Early Jurassic South Africa’s Cape Province. Named by English paleontologists Alfred W. Crompton and Alan J. Charig in 1962.

A “different lizard” is now classified as Iguanodon. Named by Cornuel in 1850.

This nomenclature ("sacred lizard") is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Nodosaurus. Named by G. R. Wieland in 1909.

An “Istria lizard” from Lower Cretaceous Limestones of SW Istria (Croatia), Histria, the Latin name of Istria (where the specimens were found); named in honor of Dario Boscarolli who, with colleagues, reported the bone-bearing locality in 1993. Named by Dalla Vecchia in 1998.

A “Hoplite (armed) lizard” from Early Cretaceous Calico Canyon, South Dakota, USA.

This lizard is said to have been named for the hoplites, the name for the heavily armored infantry of ancient Greece. It is also said that it is called, “shield-carrier lizard” from the Greek hoplites, “armed foot-soldier, shield [hoplon] carrier”.

Other sources say that the fossil’s name means “shield-carrier lizard” based on the Greek hoplites, “shield (hoplon) carrier”. It was found in South Dakota in 1901 and named in 1902 by Frederic Augustus Lucas (1852-1929).

This nomenclature (“armored lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Struthiosaurus. Named by Harry Govier Seeley in 1881.

A “Huayang lizard” from Middle Jurassic Huayang, Shanxi Province, China. The Chinese name is said to have been “inspired by the Jin Dynasty (265-317 A.D.) book Hua Yang Guo Zhi. Named by Chinese paleontologists Zhiming Dong, Tang Zhilu, and Shiwu Zhou in 1982.

A “butterfly lizard” from Late Jurassic northwestern China.

The name refers to the wing-like process on the neural spine of the anterior dorsal vertebra. It was found in the Late Jurassic upper Kalazha Formation of the Qiketia area, Turpan Basin, Xinjiang Uygur or Autonomous Region, in northwestern China.

Type species: Hudiesaurus sinojapanorum [SIE-noh-JAP-a-NOR-um] Latin for “of the Chinese and Japanese” for the nationalities of the members of the expedition that found the specimen.

The Chinese-Japanese character form of the species name can also mean “central part in character” and refers as well to the Chunichi-Shinbun (Central Part Newspaper Company of Japan), the Japanese company that supported the expedition. Named by Chinese paleontologist Zhiming Dong in 1997.

A “salt-water lizard” from Late Triassic period and found in southern Germany. Named by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1908.

A “fisher lizard” from Late Cretaceous North America. Its name comes from Greek hydrotheras, “fisherman”. It was found in the Maastrichtian Moreno Formation, Panoche Hills, Fresno County, California. Named by U. S. paleontologist Samuel Paul Welles in 1943.

A “woodland (Wealden) lizard” from Late (or Early) Cretaceous southeast England.

It was named for the lower Cretaceous Wealden deposit at Tilgate Forest. In an 1832 presentation before the Geological Society, Mantell originally explained the name as “forest lizard”, alluding to Tilgate Forest where the first specimen was unearthed; however, in later published works he gave the meaning as “Wealden lizard”, establishing the use of hylaeo- as a kind of pun in 19th century paleontology for the geological term “Wealden” (Hylaeochampsa Owen “Wealden crocodile”, Hylaeochelys Lydekker “Wealden turtle”,etc.).

The British geologist, Peter Martin, invented the name “Wealden” in 1828 for the Early Cretaceous sands and clays found in the once-forested Weald (“wood”) region of southern England. This creature was previously known as Polacanthus. Named by British paleontologist Gideon A. Matheron Mantell (1790-1852) in 1833.