Cryptosaurus
Name:
Cryptosaurus
(Hidden lizard).
Phonetic: Krip-toe-sore-us.
Named By: Harry Govier Seeley - 1869.
Synonyms: Cryptodraco eumerus.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Thyreophora, Ankylosauria.
Species: C. eumerus (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Unknown.
Known locations: England - Ampthill Clay
Formation.
Time period: Oxfordian of the Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Partial femur (OUM
J.46882), about 33 centimetres long.
Today
Cryptosaurus is considered to be a genus of
ankylosaur, though
because it is only known by a partial femur the genus is considered
dubious because it would be almost impossible to assign further remains
to the genus.
When
first described by Harry Govier Seeley, Cryptosaurus
was thought to
have been a relative of Iguanodon,
and later Friedrich von Huene
thought it was a slightly different kind of ornithopod, and assigned
it to the camptosauridae. Richard Lydekker also created the name
Cryptodraco for the bone in 1889, but since this
was unnecessary it
is now treated as a synonym to Cryptosaurus.
Further reading
- Index to the Fossil Remains of Aves, Ornithosauria, and
Reptilia from the Secondary System of Strata, arranged in the
Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge, Harry Govier
Seeley - 1869.
- On the Femur of Cryptosaurus eumerus,
Seeley, a Dinosaur from
the Oxford Clay of Great Grandshen, Harry Govier Seeley - 1875.
- Armored dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the
Middle and Upper Jurassic of Europe, Peter M. Galton - 1983.
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