Herbstosaurus

Herbst's lizard

• Herbst · Proper noun (surname) · honouring Ricardo Nestor Herbst
• saurus · Greek · lizard

The name honours Ricardo Nestor Herbst, an Argentine geologist and palaeontologist who collected the original fossil material. The suffix '-saurus' is the standard Latinised Greek word for 'lizard', universally used in dinosaur and reptile genus names. The genus was named in recognition of Herbst's contributions to South American palaeontology.

Named by

Casamiquela

Year named

1974

Period

Late Jurassic

Stage

Tithonian

Found in

Tordillo Formation, Neuquén Province, Argentina

Originally described as a small coelurosaur dinosaur by Casamiquela (1974), Herbstosaurus pigmaeus was later reinterpreted as a pterosaur (possibly a non-pterodactyloid pterosaur), not a dinosaur. It is based on very fragmentary material, making its classification uncertain, and is generally regarded as a nomen dubium. It is not a true dinosaur.