Craterosaurus | |
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Holotype neural arch of C. pottonensis as seen from multiple angles | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Thyreophora |
Clade: | †Stegosauria |
Genus: | †Craterosaurus Seeley, 1874 |
Species: | †C. pottonensis
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Binomial name | |
†Craterosaurus pottonensis Seeley 1874
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Craterosaurus (meaning krater reptile or bowl reptile) was a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur. It lived during the Early Cretaceous (Aptian to Albian stages) around 121-113 million years ago. Its fossils were found in the Woburn Sands Formation of England. Craterosaurus may actually be a junior synonym of Regnosaurus,[1] but only one fossil, a partial vertebra, was recovered.
The holotype was discovered near Potton by a Mr. Charlesworth, and the type (and only known) species is Craterosaurus pottonensis, described in 1874 by Harry Seeley.[2] The specific name refers to the Potton bonebed. Seeley mistook the fossil, holotype SMC B.28814, for the base of a cranium. Franz Nopcsa in 1912 correctly identified it as the front part of a neural arch.[3] Craterosaurus was placed in Stegosauria by Galton,[4] although subsequent authors did not recognize Craterosaurus as a distinct, valid taxon.[5][6]
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