Telmatosaurus

marsh lizard

• telmatos · Greek · marsh, swamp
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name combines the Greek words for "marsh" and "lizard", giving "marsh lizard". Baron Franz Nopcsa coined it in 1903 as a replacement name, because his earlier name Limnosaurus ("lake lizard") was already taken. The name reflects the idea that the animal lived in a swampy, wet environment.

Named by

Nopcsa

Year named

1903

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Sânpetru Formation, Hațeg Basin, Transylvania, Romania

A small, primitive hadrosauroid (duck-billed dinosaur relative) from the island fauna of Late Cretaceous Hațeg. The type species is T. transsylvanicus. Nopcsa first named it Limnosaurus in 1900, but that name was preoccupied.