Craterosaurus
Craterosaurus
Extinct genus of dinosaurs
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]