Claosaurus

broken lizard

• klao · Greek · to break / broken
• sauros · Greek · lizard

Claosaurus comes from Greek words meaning "broken" and "lizard". O. C. Marsh gave it this name in 1890 for a partial hadrosauroid skeleton from the Niobrara Chalk of Kansas. The skeleton had earlier been described as a species of Hadrosaurus, and Marsh later moved it into its own genus.

Named by

Marsh

Year named

1890

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Santonian

Found in

Niobrara Chalk, Kansas, USA

The type species is Claosaurus agilis, a basal hadrosauroid known from limited remains. Its remains are sparse, so its exact relationships are uncertain. Some authors treat it as poorly diagnosed. The name Claosaurus has also been applied to other material that was later reassigned to other genera.