Camptosaurus

bent lizard (flexible lizard)

• kamptos · Greek · bent, flexible
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name comes from the Greek "kamptos" (bent or flexible) and "sauros" (lizard). Marsh coined it in 1885 for a medium-sized ornithopod from the Late Jurassic of the western United States. The name is usually explained as referring to the animal's flexible body, though the original reasoning is not fully certain.

Named by

Marsh

Year named

1885

Period

Late Jurassic

Stages

Kimmeridgian – Tithonian

Found in

Morrison Formation, western USA (e.g. Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota)

Camptosaurus is a valid ornithopod genus, and its type species is C. dispar. Other species once placed in it have been moved to other genera. Some Morrison Formation specimens are also referred to it.