Camptonotus

bent back

• kamptos · Greek · bent, flexible
• notos · Greek · back

The name combines Greek words for "bent" or "flexible" and "back". O. C. Marsh used it in 1879 for an ornithopod from the Late Jurassic of the western USA, apparently alluding to the animal's flexible back.

Named by

Marsh

Year named

1879

Period

Late Jurassic

Found in

Morrison Formation, Wyoming, USA

Camptonotus was preoccupied by an earlier name for an insect (a katydid or cricket genus, Camptonotus Uhler, 1864). Marsh therefore replaced it with Camptosaurus in 1885. The dinosaur material is now referred to Camptosaurus, so Camptonotus is not used as a dinosaur name today. The type species was Camptonotus dispar, now Camptosaurus dispar. The "flexible back" reading is my interpretation and I am not fully certain of Marsh's stated reasoning. The stage range is not stated here because I am unsure of it.