Qantassaurus

Qantas lizard

• Qantas · English (airline name, acronym) · Australian airline (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services)
• sauros · Greek · lizard

Qantassaurus honours the Australian airline Qantas, which helped transport fossils and field crews for the palaeontologists working on Australia's polar dinosaurs. The name combines the airline's name with the Greek word for lizard. It is a small, plant-eating ornithopod known from the Early Cretaceous of southern Australia, when the region lay within the polar circle.

Named by

Rich and Vickers-Rich

Year named

1999

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Aptian

Found in

Wonthaggi Formation, Victoria, Australia

Type species is Qantassaurus intrepidus. It is a small ornithopod (often called a hypsilophodont-grade dinosaur) known mainly from a lower jaw, with a short snout.