Taveirosaurus

Taveiro lizard

• Taveiro · Portuguese · Taveiro (village in Portugal near the fossil site)
• saurus · Greek · lizard

The name combines "Taveiro," a small village in the Coimbra district of central Portugal near where the fossils were discovered, with the Greek word "sauros" meaning lizard. It thus means "Taveiro lizard," honoring the locality of its discovery. The fossils were found in the Taveiro Formation, a Late Cretaceous unit in Portugal.

Named by

Antunes and Sigogneau-Russell

Year named

1991

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Taveiro Formation, Coimbra district, Portugal

Taveirosaurus costai is the type and only species. It is based on very fragmentary dental material (isolated teeth), and is widely regarded as a nomen dubium because the material is insufficient to confidently diagnose a distinct genus. It has been tentatively referred to as a possible ankylosaur or ornithischian, but its classification remains highly uncertain.