Spinosaurus

spine lizard

• spina · Latin · spine, thorn
• sauros · Greek · lizard

Spinosaurus means "spine lizard". It was named for the very tall neural spines growing from its back vertebrae, which are thought to have supported a sail or hump. The type species, S. aegyptiacus, was named for Egypt, where the original fossils were found.

Named by

Stromer

Year named

1915

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Cenomanian

Found in

Bahariya Formation, Egypt, and Kem Kem Group, Morocco (North Africa)

A large semi-aquatic theropod in the family Spinosauridae. The original Egyptian type specimen, housed in Munich, was destroyed in a 1944 Allied bombing raid on the city. Later specimens from Morocco, including a neotype described in 2020, have been used to reconstruct its anatomy. The Cenomanian stage is the commonly cited age.