Coloradisaurus

Colorados lizard

• Colorad(os) · Spanish · coloured red; from the Los Colorados Formation
• -i- · Latin · connecting vowel
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name refers to the Los Colorados Formation of La Rioja Province, Argentina, where the fossil was found. That formation is named for its red rocks (Spanish "colorados"). It is combined with the Greek "sauros" (lizard). It was coined as a replacement name for the earlier name Coloradia, which was already in use for a moth.

Named by

Lambert

Year named

1983

Period

Late Triassic

Stage

Norian

Found in

Los Colorados Formation, La Rioja Province, Argentina

A basal sauropodomorph (massospondylid) known from the type species Coloradisaurus brevis. It was originally named Coloradia by Bonaparte in 1978, but that name was preoccupied by a moth genus, so Lambert gave it the replacement name Coloradisaurus in 1983.