| Craterosaurus Temporal range: 140 Ma |
|
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Node: | †Eurypoda |
| Suborder: | †Stegosauria |
| Genus: | †Craterosaurus Seeley, 1874 |
| Species: | †C. pottonensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Craterosaurus pottonensis Seeley, 1874 |
|
Craterosaurus (meaning krater reptile or bowl reptile) was a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur. It lived during the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian to Barremian stages) around 145-136 million years ago. Its fossils were found in England. Craterosaurus may actually be a junior synonym of Regnosaurus, but only one fossil, a partial vertebra, was recovered.
The type (and only known) species is Craterosaurus pottonensis, described in 1874 by Harry Seeley.[1] 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.[2]