Hylaeosaurus

forest lizard (woodland lizard)

• hylaios · Greek · of the forest, woodland (from hyle, 'wood, forest')
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name comes from the Greek "hylaios" (belonging to the woods) and "sauros" (lizard), so "forest lizard" or "woodland lizard". Gideon Mantell named it in 1833 for the Weald, a once heavily wooded region of southeast England, where the fossils were found in Tilgate Forest. It was one of the first three dinosaurs ever named, along with Megalosaurus and Iguanodon.

Named by

Mantell

Year named

1833

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Valanginian

Found in

Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation (Wealden), Tilgate Forest, Sussex, England

An armoured nodosaurid-like ankylosaur (Ankylosauria), and one of the first three dinosaurs named. The type species is Hylaeosaurus armatus.