Camptosaurus
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Extinct (fossil)
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C. hoggii Owen, 1874 |
Camptosaurus (KAMP-to-sawr-us) was a genus of plant-eating, beaked dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic Period. The name means 'bent lizard', because, when standing on all fours, its body must have been arched (Greek kamptos meaning 'bent' and sauros meaning 'lizard').
[edit] Discovery and species
Camptosaurus was originally descibed by O. C. Marsh in 1879. An alternate name considered was "Camptonotus", or "bent back".
Fossils of these dinosaurs have been mainly found in North America, however a skeleton named Camptosaurus prestwichii was recovered from Chawley Brick Pits, Cumnor Hurst in Oxfordshire in England. The fossil was found when a tramway was driven into the side of a hill and described by Hulke in 1880 as Iguanodon prestwichii, before being placed in its own genus Cumnoria, then Iguanodon again, then Camptosaurus by Lydekker in 1889.[1]
[edit] Paleobiology
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The largest adult camptosaurs were more than 7 m (23 ft) long. They had heavy bodies but, as well as walking on four legs (quadrupedal), they could rear up to walk on two legs (bipedal).
This genus is probably closely related to the ancestor of the later iguanodontid and hadrosaurid dinosaurs. It probably ate cycads with its parrot-like beak.
[edit] References
- ^ Benton MJ, Spencer PS (1995). Fossil Reptiles of Great Britain. Chapman & Hall. ISBN 0-412-62040-5.
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