Protorosaurus

first lizard (approximately)

• proto- · Greek · first, early
• -saurus · Greek · lizard

The name is built from Greek roots meaning roughly "first lizard" or "early lizard". It was given to a long-necked reptile from the Late Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany, one of the earliest fossil reptiles to be scientifically described. The type species is Protorosaurus speneri.

Named by

Meyer

Year named

1832

Period

Late Permian

Stage

Wuchiapingian

Found in

Kupferschiefer, Germany (also the Marl Slate of England)

Not a dinosaur. Protorosaurus is a long-necked archosauromorph reptile (a protorosaur) that lived about 250 million years before the first birds. It predates the dinosaurs. The spelling "Proterosaurus" also appears in older literature, and I'm not certain of the exact details of the original spelling and the etymology. I included the genus because it is a published genus name, but it falls outside dinosaurs proper.