Nanosaurus

Nanosaurus Temporal range: Late Jurassic, 155–148 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Reconstructed skeleton cast, Dinosaur Journey Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Genasauria
Clade:	†Neornithischia
Family:	†Nanosauridae Marsh, 1877
Genus:	†Nanosaurus Marsh, 1877
Species:	†N. agilis
Binomial name
†Nanosaurus agilis Marsh, 1877
Synonyms
Genus synonymy Drinker Bakker et al., 1990 Othnielia Galton, 1977 Othnielosaurus Galton, 2007 Species synonymy Drinker nisti Bakker et al., 1990 Laosaurus consors Marsh, 1894 Nanosaurus rex Marsh, 1877 Othnielia rex (Marsh, 1877) Othnielosaurus consors (Marsh, 1894)

Nanosaurus ("small or dwarf lizard") is the name given to a genus of neornithischian dinosaur that lived about 155 to 148 million years ago, during the Late Jurassic-age. Its fossils are known from the Morrison Formation of the south-western United States. The type and only species, Nanosaurus agilis, was described and named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877. The taxon has a complicated taxonomic history, largely the work of Marsh and Peter M. Galton, involving the genera Laosaurus, Hallopus, Drinker, Othnielia, and Othnielosaurus, the latter three now being considered to be synonyms of Nanosaurus. It had historically been classified as a hypsilophodont or fabrosaur, types of generalized small bipedal herbivore, but more recent research has abandoned these groupings as paraphyletic and Nanosaurus is today considered a basal member of Neornithischia.