Craterosaurus
Sign in to saveCraterosaurus (meaning krater reptile or bowl reptile) is a dubious genus of stegosaurian dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous (possibly Aptian stage) of the Woburn Sands Formation of England. Estimated to measure around in length and weighing approximately , Craterosaurus may actually be a junior synonym of Regnosaurus, but only one fossil, a partial vertebra, was recovered.
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- History of naming
- References
Craterosaurus (meaning krater reptile or bowl reptile) is a dubious genus of stegosaurian dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous (possibly Aptian stage) of the Woburn Sands Formation of England. Estimated to measure around in length and weighing approximately , Craterosaurus may actually be a junior synonym of Regnosaurus, but only one fossil, a partial vertebra, was recovered.
==History of naming== thumb|250px|left|Size comparison, based on Kentrosaurus A fossil was discovered by Mr. Charlesworth in the Woburn Sands Formation near Potton, Bedfordshire, in a brown sandstone layer with many phosphate nodules. In 1874 this fossil was described by British palaeontologist Harry Govier Seeley as a new taxon, named Craterosaurus pottonensis. The holotype and only definitive specimen of Craterosaurus is stored in the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences under accession number SMC B.28814. Seeley interpreted Craterosaurus as being represented by a partial , which he found showed support for it as a member of Dinosauria with uncertain relationships. It was possible that Craterosaurus could be aligned with Ceteosauria or Iguanodon, but with limited material to compare Seeley did not classify Craterosaurus further.