Jurassic dinosaurs Reference Libraries
Supersaurus, meaning “super lizard” is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that was discovered by Vivian Jones of Delta, Colorado, in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Colorado in the year 1972. The fossil remains came from the Brushy Basin Member of the formation, dating back to about 153 million years ago. It’s among the largest dinosaurs known from good remains, possibly...
Megalaosaurus, meaning “Great Lizard”, from Greek megalo, meaning ‘big’ or ‘tall’ and sauros, meaning “lizard”, is a genus of large and meat-eating theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic period of Europe. It’s significant as the first genus of dinosaur, outside of birds, to be described and named. Megalosaurus might have been the first dinosaur to be described in...
Stegosaurus, meaning “roof lizard,” is a genus of stegosaurid armored dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian to early Tithonian stages of the Late Jurassic Period (145 mya) in what is now western North America. It was first discovered from a bone bed in the Morrison Formation in Morrison, Colorado, and was first described in 1877 by Othniel Charles Marsh. These first fossils became known as the...
Sauroposeidon, meaning “earthquake god lizard,” is a genus of sauropods dinosaur from the Aptian and Albian ages of the Early Cretaceous Period (110 million years ago). It was discovered in the southeast region of Atoka County, Oklahoma, not far from the border of Texas, in a claystone outcrop. The fossils were initially misidentified as pieces of petrified wood when they were found in...
Massospondylus, meaning “longer vertebrae,” is a genus of prosauropod dinosaur from the Hettangian to Pliensbachian ages of the Early Jurassic Period (200 to 183 million years ago). Massospondylus was discovered in 1853 by J.M. Orpen in the Upper Elliott Formation at Harrismith, South Africa. It was described in 1854 by Sir Richard Owen. It is one of the first dinosaurs to have been named....
Abrosaurus, meaning “delicate lizard,” is a genus of sauropods dinosaur from the Bathonian to Callovian stages of the Middle Jurassic Period of what is now Asia (168 to 161 million years ago). It is one of many dinosaurs unearthed at the Dashanpu Quarry in the Sichuan Province of China. Abrosaurus was discovered in 1984 and first described in 1986. Abrosaurus is known from a nearly...
Iguanodon, meaning “Iguana tooth,” is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur known from the Kimmeridgian age of the Late Jurassic Period to the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous Period. It lived in Asia, Europe and North America. Research in the early 2000s suggests however that only one species, I. bernissartensis, is well-substantiated, and lived during the Early Cretaceous Period in Europe....
Scelidosaurus, meaning “limb lizard,” is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur from the Hettangian and Sinemurian stages of the Early Jurassic Period (208 to 194 million years ago). Its fossils have been discovered in both England and the United States -- in Arizona. Scelidosaurus has been called the earliest complete dinosaur known. The type specimen was discovered by James Harrison of...
Diplodocus, meaning “double beam,” is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period of what is now western North America (about 150 million years ago). The first fossils of this dinosaur were discovered in 1877 by S.W. Williston. Its generic name was coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878. Diplodocus is one of the more common dinosaur fossils found in the Upper...
Segisaurus, meaning "Segi canyon lizard," is a genus of coelophysoid theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Period (183 million years ago). It was discovered by a Navajo Indian -- Max Littlesalt -- in 1933 in Tsegi Canyon, Arizona, for which it was named. Segisaurus is the only dinosaur ever to be excavated from that area. Although it was described in 1936 by paleontologist Charles Lewis...
