Struthiosaurus

ostrich lizard

• struthio · Latin/Greek · ostrich
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name combines "struthio" (ostrich) with the Greek "sauros" (lizard), giving "ostrich lizard". Bunzel named it in 1871 from fragmentary remains from Austria. He thought the bones resembled those of an ostrich, so he gave it a bird-like name. Later work showed it was a small armoured dinosaur (nodosaurid ankylosaur).

Named by

Bunzel

Year named

1871

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stages

Campanian – Maastrichtian

Found in

Europe, including the Grünbach Formation (Austria), and Romania, France and Spain

A small nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Late Cretaceous European islands. Several species have been named, and the number of valid species is debated. Struthiosaurus is the accepted name.