Small beasts like these are believed to have given rise to all other bird-hipped dinosaurs. Fabrosaurids lived in Europe, North American, and southern Africa.

Means “Fabre’s lizard” (true reversed vertebrae lizard) from Early Jurassic South Africa. Named for Jean Henri Fabriel, a French geologist, and a colleague of Ginsburg’s (the nomenclator, 1964) on the expedition that collected the fossil in Basutoland, South Africa. Named by Leonard Ginsburg in 1964.

This nomenclature (“window lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Oviraptor. Named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1924.

A “Frenguelli lizard” from Late Triassic Argentina. Named in honor of Dr. Joaquin Frenguelli (1883-1958), an Italian-born paleontologist who worked in Argentina and who did important paleontological and geological work in the Triassic basin of the Ischigualasto-Villa Union. This fossil is also referred to as Herrerasaurus. Named by Argentinian paleontologist Fernando E. Novas in 1986.

A “Fresno lizard” from Late Cretaceous North America. It was named for Fresno County, California where the fragmentary-type skeleton was found in the Moreno Formation. Named by U. S. paleontologist Samuel Paul Welles in 1943.

A “Futaba [Grouip] lizard” from Late Cretaceous Japan. Named by Canadian paleontologist Lawrence Lambert in 1990.

A “gargoyle lizard” from Late Jurassic Wyoming. It was named for a sculptured gutter in the form of a grotesque monster, used to decorate Gothic churches (from French gargouille). It was named for the resemblance of the skull to the head of a gargoyle in profile. Named by Kenneth Carpenter (Denver Museum of Natural History), Gregory A. Miles, and Cloward in 1998.

A “gas [company] lizard” from Middle Jurassic China. It was named for the natural gas company employees who discovered it in Sichuan, central China. Named by paleontologists Zhiming Dong and Tang Zhilu in 1985.

The “Gasparini’s lizard” is from Middle Jurassic Argentina. It was named in honor of Dr. Zulma B. Gasparini, Argentine paleontologist, “for her contribution to the study of Mesozoic reptiles from Patagonia.”. Named by Argentinian paleontologists Rodolfo Coria and Leonardo Salgado in 1996.

A “?? lizard” from ?? Named by geologists Michael K. Brett-Surmann in ??

A “knee lizard” from Early Cretaceous France. Named by Accarie, Beaudoin, Jean Dejax, Fries, Michard, and Philippe Taquet in 1995.

A “Georgy’s lizard” from Late Cretaceous Eastern Europe. It was named to honor V. A. Ochev’s late father, Georgy Ochev; a replacement for preoccupied Georgia Ochev. This generic name, Georgiasaurus, has no connection with the country in southwest Asia named Georgia (in English), Gruziya, in Russian. Named by Ochev in 1977.

A “crane lizard” from Early Jurassic South Africa’s Cape Province. Named by Scottish physician Robert Broom in 1911.

A “giant-southern lizard” from Late Cretaceous Patagonia, Argentina. Named in 1995 by Argentinian paleontologists Rodolfo Coria and Leonardo Salgado.

This nomenclature (“giant lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Pelorosaurus. Named by Harry Govier Seeley in 1869.

This nomenclature (“Gilmore’s lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Mandschurosaurus. Named by Brett-Surman in 1979.

A “jaw lizard” from Late Jurassic Europe. Named by naturalist Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1833.

A “Gojira lizard” from Late Triassic Revuelto Creek, New Mexico. It was named for the Japanese “Gojira”, the Japanese name for the movie monster called “Godzilla” in English. Named by Kenneth Carpenter (Denver Museum of Natural History) in 1997.

A “Ministry of Public Works lizard” from Late Jurassic China. Named for the “Gong Bu”, popular term for the government Ministry of Public Works in feudal China. The name commemorates Chinese poet Du Fu (712-770 A.D.), a one-time official of the Gong Bu in Shu (Sichuan), China. Named by Chinese paleontologists Zhiming Dong, Shiwu Zhou, and Yihong Zhang in 1983.

This nomenclature (“fierce, terrible, swift-lizard”) was thought to be an invalid name for Albertosaurus, but it is now believed to be a separate genus of tyrannosaurids. Named by Canadian fossil hunter Lawrence M. Lambe in 1914.

This nomenclature (“Gressly’s lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Plateosaurus. Named by Rütimeyer in 1857.

This nomenclature (“enigima lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Archaeopteryx. Named by A. Wagner in 1861.

This nomenclature (“hook-nosed lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Hadrosaurus. Named by Canadian fossil hunter Lawrence M. Lambe in 1914.

This nomenclature (“vulture lizard”) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Anchisaurus. Named by Robert Broom in 1911.

These “big (bulky) lizards” get the nickname “duckbills” from their broad, toothless beaks; yet, farther back, their jaws were crammed with batteries of grinding teeth - more teeth than any other dinosaurs possessed. Evolving possibly in Late Cretaceous Asia, these harmless browsing bipeds reached Europe and South America, and became among the most abundant dinosaurs of North America.

This family of duckbills had flat heads or skulls with solid bony humps or crests, a long, straight lower jaw, and long, slender limbs.

A “big (heavy or bulky) lizard” from Late Cretaceous New Jersey and New Mexico (USA) and Alberta (Canada). It was discovered by William Parker Foulke (and named in his honor as Hadrosaurus foulkii) and excavated and named by anatomist and paleontologist Joseph Leidy in 185
8. This creature was formerly known as Gryposaurus, Kritosaurus, and Ornithotarsus.

A “nimble (leaping) lizard” from Late Triassic period and found in Wuerttemberg, Germany in 190
6. Named by German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1908.

A “single-spined (simple-spined) lizard” from Late Jurassic Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, USA. This creature was formerly known as Haplocanthus. It was found by paleontologist John Bell Hatcher in 1901 and named by him in 1903.

This nomenclature (“Hecate’s lizard” [goddess of magic and enchantment in Greek mythology]) is no longer recognized by scientists because they found that it described an animal that was previously given another name which is Telmatosaurus. Named by paleontologist Barnum Brown (1873-1963) in 1910.

Known as “Black-Mountain lizard” from Late Cretaceous China. Its name comes from Heishan (Black Mountain), a geographical feature of Gansu Province, central China where the fossil was discovered. Named by Anders Birger Bohlin in 1953.

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 199
3. 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 Autonomous Region, 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.

Means “under (below) the top lizard” or “very high lizard” or “near-topmost lizard” from Late Cretaceous Alberta and Montana. Formerly known as Cheneosaurus. Named by paleontologist Barnum Brown (1873-1963) in 1913.

A “high-ridge lizard” from Late Cretaceous southern and central France and Spain. Its name is based on Greek hypselos, “high, lofty”. Named by Pierre-Emile-Philippe Matheron in 1869.