Ammosaurus
AM-oh-SORE-us /ˌæməˈsɔːrəs/
Synonym of Anchisaurus
sand lizard
- ammos · Greek · sand
- sauros · Greek · lizard
The name combines the Greek words for "sand" and "lizard". Marsh chose it because the first fossils came from the Portland Formation of Connecticut, which is a sandstone (the "Connecticut brownstone"). It means "sand lizard".
- Named by
- Marsh
- Year named
- 1891
- Period
- Early Jurassic
- Found in
- Portland Formation, Connecticut, USA (other material has been referred from the Navajo Sandstone, Arizona)
A small early sauropodomorph (an early relative of the sauropods). Many recent studies (e.g. Yates 2010) treat Ammosaurus as a junior synonym of Anchisaurus, but some researchers have kept it as a separate genus, so its status is debated. The exact stages are not given here because I am not certain of them.