Dinosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide D

    Ben Creisler


    Web Page copyright © 1996-2002 by Jeff Poling. Text copyright © 1996-2002 by Ben Creisler. This material may not be reproduced except as provided for in the "fair-use doctrine" of title 17, U.S. Code.
    Last updated July 7, 2003. Updated every Monday and Thursday, as necessary.
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    Dacentrurus Lucas 1902 "very spiky tail"

    da-sen-TROOR-us (Gr. da- "very" + kentron "spur, sharp point" + Gr. oura "tail" + -us) (m) named for its armor, with large spines along the tail; to replace preoccupied Omosaurus Owen. Stegosauria Stegosauridae L. Jur. Eur.


    Danubiosaurus Bunzel 1871 "Danube River lizard"

    day-NOOB-ee-o-SAWR-us (Lat. Danubius, the Danube River + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) alluding to where the fossil was found near the Danube River in modern Austria. [= Struthiosaurus]


    Daspletosaurus Russel 1970 "frightful lizard"

    das-PLEET-o-SAWR-us (Gr. dasplet- (dasples) "frightful" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) referring to its powerful build and carnivorous nature. Theropoda Coelurosauria Tyrannosauridae L. Cret. NA.


    Datousaurus Dong & Tang 1984 "chieftain [big head] lizard" [qiulong]

    DAH-TOH-SAWR-us (Malay datou "headman, chieftain" (and Chin. da "big" + Chin. tou "head") + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) named, in part, as "a very good description of an animal which has a large head." The name is intended as a pun. The Chinese version of the name qiulong "chieftain dragon" is based on a Malay word datou "chieftain, headman," similar in sound and Latin transcription to Chinese da tou "big head," although Malay and Chinese are completely unrelated languages. Proposed for a large primitive sauropod described as having a big skull--the assignment of the skull to the rest of skeleton has been questioned by some researchers, however. (The name is not a geographical reference.) Sauropoda Cetiosauridae M. Jur. China


    Deinocheirus Osmolska & Roniewicz 1970 "terrible hand"

    DIEN-o-KIE-rus (Gr. deinos "terrible" + Gr. kheir "hand" + -us) (m) referring to the very large forelimbs and strong claws, the only part of the specimen preserved. Theropoda Ornithomimosauria ?Ornithomimidae L. Cret. Mongolia


    Deinodon Leidy 1856 "terrible tooth"

    DIEN-o-don (Gr. deinos "terrible" + Gr. odon "tooth") (m) named for the large size of a dozen teeth belonging to carnivorous dinosaurs, collected by Dr. F.V. Hayden along the Judith River in Nebraska Territory (Montana); with Trachodon, the first recognized evidence of dinosaurs in North America. Some of the teeth were bladelike in shape and closely resembled those of Megalosaurus. Had the bladelike teeth been found alone, Leidy suggested they would be considered a new species of Megalosaurus. However, Leidy described other specimens found with the bladelike teeth as "quite peculiar" in form and unlike any attributed to Megalosaurus, indicating that if all the carnivorous dinosaur teeth found by Hayden belonged together, they represented a distinct genus, which Leidy named Deinodon. In 1868, Leidy placed three "peculiar" teeth (two serrated, one unserrated, with a D-shaped cross section) in a new genus, Aublysodon, and restricted the name Deinodon to the bladelike teeth, suggesting Cope's Laelaps might be a junior synonym of Deinodon. Cope (1868) then disputed Leidy's action on nomenclatural grounds, claiming that Cope had already restricted the name Deinodon (which Cope spelled "Dinodon") to the "peculiar" teeth in 1866, the bladelike teeth being an unnamed species of Laelaps. Because Cope considered "Dinodon" preoccupied, he accepted the name Aublysodon for the "peculiar" teeth. Most later authors (such as Osborn) followed Leidy and used Deinodon for the bladelike teeth; the "peculiar" teeth were usually interpreted as premaxillary teeth belonging to Deinodon, making Aublysodon a junior synonym. Usage was inconsistent, however, and into the 1960s, the name Deinodon or Aublysodon was sometimes treated as the valid name for the better defined tyrannosaurid taxa Gorgosaurus and Albertosaurus. Most modern scholars consider the name Deinodon a nomen dubium based on undiagnostic teeth (Leidy's blade-like specimens, and the "peculiar" D-shaped premaxillary teeth with serrated edges). Aublysodon is now recognized as a distinct definable taxon by most researchers, based on the unserrated "peculiar" tooth described by Leidy. (See additional comments at Aublysodon). Theropoda Coelurosauria Tyrannosauridae L. Cret. NA [nomen dubium (?Albertosaurus)]


    Deinonychus Ostrom 1969 "terrible claw"

    die-NON-i-kus (Gr. deinos "terrible" + Gr. onykh- (onyx) "claw" + -us) (m) named for the large slashing claw on the second toe of its hindfoot. The latinized-Greek type species name antirrhopus (an-TIHR-o-pus) "counter-balancing" refers to its stiffened tail, used as a dynamic stabilizer when attacking with the feet or when running. Theropoda Coelurosauria Dromaeosauridae E. Cret. NA.


    Deltadromeus Sereno, Duthiel, Iarochene, Larsson, Lyon, Magwene, Sidor, Varricchio & Wilson 1996 "delta runner"

    DEL-ta-DROHM-ee-us (Gr. delta triangular letter "d" + Gr. dromeus "runner") for the river-delta environment in which it was fossilized: "named for the deltaic facies in which it was found and for the cursorial proportions of its hind limbs." The type specimen is about the size of an Allosaurus, but other attributed material is half again as large, suggesting that some individuals may have reached Tyrannosaurus-size. Theropoda Coelurosauria i.s. L. Cret. NAfr.


    Denversaurus Bakker 1988 "Denver lizard"

    DEN-vuhr-SAWR-us (Denver + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) alluding to the Denver Museum of Natural History, where the specimen was kept, before being identified as a distinct taxon. Ankylosauria Nodosauridae L. Cret. NA. [= ? Edmontonia]


    Dianchungosaurus Young 1982 "Central Yunnan (China) lizard"

    DYEN-JUNG-o-SAWR-us (Chin. Dian, a name for Yunnan Province + Chin. zhong [= chung] "middle" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for the Dianzhong Basin, central Yunnan Province, China, where the fossil was found. Ornithopoda Heterodontosauridae E. Jur. China [nomen dubium]


    Diceratops Lull 1905 "two horned face"

    die-SER-a-tops (Gr. di- "two" + Gr. kerat- (keras) "horn" + Gr. ops "face") (m) alluding to the two large brow horns and "the absence of the nasal horn." Formerly considered a specimen of Triceratops by many authorities, the type skull has distinctive openings in the frill that justify its status as a separate genus according to some researchers. Ceratopsia Ceratopidae L. Cret. NA.


    Diclonius Cope 1876 "double sprout (teeth)"

    die-KLOHN-ee-us (Gr. di- "two" + Gr. klon "sprout, twig" + -ius) (m) named for a supposed double row of functional teeth in its jaws, replaced from the front: "The dentition on the species of this genus shows that but one tooth in mature functional use existed in a line transverse to the axis of the jaw at one time, and that alternating with these, one partially protruded crown, and one stump of a crown, present masticating surfaces in transverse relation. The formula for this genus should then be written 2-1..." The name contrasts with Monoclonius "single sprout," described in the same 1876 paper and originally misidentified as a Hadrosaurus-like dinosaur with supposedly only a single row of functional teeth in its jaw. (See additional comments at Monoclonius). Cope later determined that Diclonius-type teeth came from the upper jaws of hadrosaurs while Hadrosaurus/Monoclonius-type teeth came from the lower jaws. In 1883 Cope used the name "Diclonius mirabilis" for a large, well-preserved specimen of a flat-headed Lance hadrosaur (now called Anatotitan copei), on the grounds that Leidy supposedly had abandoned the generic name Trachodon. However, Cope's original name-bearing type specimens for Diclonius were only isolated teeth, now considered inadequate for a genus-level diagnosis. (See additional comments at Anatotitan.) Ornithopoda Hadrosauridae Hadrosaurinae L. Cret. NA. [nomen dubium]


    Dicraeosaurus Janensch 1914 "bifurcated (vertebrae) lizard"

    die-KREE-o-SAWR-us (Gr. dikraios "bifurcated, double-headed" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for the large bifurcated neural spines on the vertebrae of the neck and back. Sauropoda Dicraeosauridae L. Jur. NA.


    Didanodon Osborn 1902 "beautiful-sided tooth"

    die-DAN-o-don (Gr. di- (dia) "through, across, on both sides" + Gr. idanos "beautiful" + Gr. odon "tooth") (m) Osborn probably based the name on Lambe's 1902 comment that the teeth, first called Pteropelyx altidens: "are beautifully marked...on the raised edges of the outer enamelled face by a few, obliquely, placed transversely elongated embossments..." [= ?Lambeosaurus]


    Dilophosaurus Welles 1970 "double-crested lizard"

    die-LOF-o-SAWR-us (t.L.m.: DIL-o-fo-SAWR-us) (Gr. di- "two" + Gr. lophos "crest" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named "in reference to the two cranial crests," running the length of the skull. Theropoda Ceratosauria Halticosauridae E. Jur. NA., China


    Dimodosaurus Pidancet & Chopard 1862 "terrible lizard"

    die-MOHD-o-SAWR-us (Gr. deimodes "terrible" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) named for its large size and supposedly carnivorous nature; originally described as a "megalosaurian" [= Plateosaurus]


    Dinheirosaurus Bonaparte & Mateus 1999 "Porto Dinheiro (Portugal) lizard"

    deen-YAYR-o-SAWR-us (Dinheiro + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for Porto Dinheiro, west-central Portugal, the locality where the holotype (ML414 (Museu da Lourinha)) was collected; based on material originally attributed to Lourinhasaurus alenquerensis by Dantas, Sanz, Da Silva, Ortega, Dos Santos & Cachao 1998: two incomplete cervical vertebrae, nine rather complete, articulated dorsal vertebrae, plus some fragmented centrae, incomplete neural arches, 12 dorsal ribs, and fragmentary appendicular bones, found in the upper section of the Camadas de Alcobaca Formation, Late Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic. Dinheirosaurus is diagnosed based on the shape of its cervical and dorsal vertebrae, which are of the Diplodocus type with bifurcated neural spines. However, some details of the neural spines suggest a generic difference: they are lower in height below the transverse process than in Diplodocus and have paired structures derived from the hyposphene that form a well developed accessory articulation between vertebrae. Dinheirosaurus may be derived from a diplodocid more primitive than Diplodocus, and appears to have evolved in geographic isolation on islands separated from both North America and the European mainland during the Late Jurassic. Because the type material for both Lourinhasaurus and Dinheirosaurus consists of different skeletal parts that cannot be compared, it is possible that Dinheirosaurus is a synonym of Lourinhasaurus.

    Type Species: Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis [loh-REEN-yah-NEN-sis] Bonaparte & Mateus 1999: for the Lourinha municipality where the holotype was found. Sauropoda Diplodocidae Late Jurassic (Late Kimmeridgian) Eur. (Portugal) [added 6/99]


    Dolichosuchus von Huene 1932 "long crocodile"

    DOL-ik-o-SOOK-us (Gr. dolikhos "long" + Gr. soukhos "crocodile") (m) named for a slender, straight tibia. Theropoda L. Trias. Eur. [nomen dubium]


    Dinodocus Owen 1884 "terrible beam"

    die-NOD-o-kus (Gr. deinos "terrible" + Gr. dokos "beam, rafter, shaft" + -us) (m) referring to the size of a long, slender sauropod humerus (originally misidentified by Owen as the ilium and lower femur of a large marine crocodile). [= Pelorosaurus]


    Dinosauria Owen 1842 "terrible lizards"

    DIEN-o-SAWR-ee-a (Gr. deinos "terrible" + Gr. sauros "lizard" + -ia) (n) The Greek term deinos was: "expressive of the quality of objects which, from their vastness, magnitude, etc., inspire fear, awe, reverence, power, etc.," (Pickering: Comprehensive Lexicon of the Greek Language, 1873 edition). Owen's first published definition of Dinosauria was "fearfully great lizards," and he noted that the group's peculiar anatomical features (fused sacrum, pachyderm-like limbs) were "all manifested by creatures far surpassing in size the largest of existing reptiles." His arch-rival Thomas Huxley (1869) even questioned if the name Dinosauria was appropriate after some members of the group turned out to be small. The term "terrible lizard" is now often wrongly interpreted to indicate a frighteningly vicious nature for dinosaurs, but this was not Owen's original idea, and results from the different range of meanings "terrible" can have in English. Contrary to the version of history given in many current books, Owen did NOT introduce the term "Dinosauria" in a famous address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Plymouth, England, on August 2, 1841. Detailed accounts of Owen's spoken lecture in a number of respected journals of the day (including The Literary Gazette and The Athenaeum) make no mention of the Dinosauria, and indicate that Owen treated Megalosaurus and Iguanodon only as large, if unusual, lizard-like reptiles. It was only in the much-revised and expanded published version of the report, which appeared nearly a year later in 1842, that Owen formally named and described the Dinosauria as a new order of reptiles, distinguished in particular by the presence of a sacrum with five fused vertebrae, as found in large mammals and birds. Recent research by the British geologist Hugh Torrens has documented how Owen came to his breakthrough insights between 1841 and 1842. However, Owen's reasons for erecting the Dinosauria are still partly misinterpreted. An essential element of Owen's reasoning lay in the notion of the "economy of organic nature," a concept best articulated by William Buckland in the context of "natural theology" in his Bridgewater Treatise. Functionalist principles operated broadly in nature, not just in the design of individual species that were assumed to be perfectly adapted to their particular life-styles. Creation was intrinsically balanced to fill out various departments such as herbivore and carnivore, prey and predator, with a more general balance between terrestrial and aquatic life. Similarly, a balanced creation among ancient reptiles must have resembled the modern balanced creation among mammals. As Owen states, the Dinosauria were "the gigantic Crocodile-lizards of the dry land, the peculiarities of the osteological structure of which distinguish them as clearly from the modern terrestrial and amphibious Sauria, as the opposite modifications for an aquatic life characterize the extinct Enaliosauria, or Marine Lizards." The ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, known from nearly complete material, were the ancient reptilian analogs of modern cetaceans, implying that ancient reptilian analogs of modern giant terrestrial mammals must have existed at the same time. Thus Owen could predict that, despite the very incomplete nature of dinosaur remains, some group of ancient terrestrial reptiles must have resembled modern land mammals--erect quadrupeds with large forelimbs. This theoretical approach led Owen to reject evidence that otherwise might have steered him to a flightless bird analogy. As a follower of Cuvier's functionalist notions such as the "law of correlation," Owen could have concluded that Megalosaurus resembled an ostrich. He states that his major insight into the uniqueness of dinosaurs came from studying a sacrum belonging to Megalosaurus: "In contemplating this series of five anchylosed vertebrae, so new in Saurian anatomy, my attention was first arrested by the singular position of the foramina for the transmission of the nerves from the inclosed spinal marrow....[T]he normal position of these foramina throughout the vertebral column in all other reptiles is at the interspace of two vertebrae." The Oxford Megalosaurus, however, resembled birds in that "the nerve foramen is opposite the middle of each centrum. It is this structure, beautifully exemplified in the sacrum of the young Ostrich, which Creative Wisdom adopted to give due strength to the corresponding region of the spine of a gigantic Saurian species, whose mission in this planet had ended probably before that of the Ostrich had begun." Lacking any physical evidence at all for large forelimbs in Megalosaurus, Owen nonetheless postulated their presence. He also questioned evidence for only modest-sized forelimbs in Iguanodon, despite the Maidstone specimen: "...some of the large bones, hitherto uniformly regarded as the femora, may be the humeri of the Iguanodon." Much has been made of Owen's political motivations in creating the Dinosauria (notably by Adrian Desmond). Owen's comments that dinosaurs were strong evidence against unbroken progress in life forms through time because the extinct dinosaurs were much more advanced in their anatomy and physiology than any modern form of reptile simply amplified a point made earlier by Buckland in his 1836 Bridgewater Treatise concerning fossil fish (muddled phylogeny aside!): "From no kingdom of nature does the doctrine of gradual Development and Transmutation of species derive less support than from the progression we have been tracing in the class of Fishes. The Sauroid Fishes occupy a higher place in the scale of organization than the ordinary forms of bony Fishes; yet we find examples of Sauroids in greater magnitude, and in abundant numbers in the Carboniferous and Secondary formations, whilst they almost disappear and are replaced by less perfect forms in the Tertiary strata, and present only two genera among existing Fishes." (p. 294) Owen's use of dinosaurs against transformationalist doctrines may have been gratifying to some of his peers (such as Buckland), but it was undoubtedly Owen's notion that dinosaurs filled a necessary role in the "economy of organic nature" as the highly specialized terrestrial counterparts to the better-known and equally highly specialized aquatic ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs that would have struck his contemporaries as persuasive. [taxon]


    Dinosaurus Ruetimeyer 1856 "terrible lizard"

    DIEN-o-SAWR-us (Gr. deinos "terrible" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for its large size (Preoccupied by Dinosaurus Fischer de Waldheim 1847 (Synapsida). See Gressleysaurus) [= Plateosaurus]


    Dinotyrannus Olshevsky in Olshevsky, Ford & Yamamoto 1995 "terrible tyrant"

    DIEN-o-ti-RAN-us (Gr. deinos "terrible" + Gr. tyrannos "tyrant") (m) proposed for Albertosaurus megagracilis Paul; for its carnivorous nature and its close relation to Tyrannosaurus and Nanotyrannus. Theropoda Coelurosauria Tyrannosauridae L. Cret. NA.


    Diplodocus Marsh 1878 "double beam (chevron)"

    di-PLOD-o-kus (Gr. diploos "double" + Gr. dokos "beam, rafter" + -us)* (m) Marsh explains: "the caudal vertebrae...have doubled chevrons, with both anterior and posterior rami. To the last character, the generic name refers." Marsh had barely prepared the specimen when he named the genus. Sauropoda Diplodocidae L. Jur. NA.


    Diplotomodon Leidy 1868 "double cutting tooth"

    DIP-lo-TOM-o-don (Gr. diploos "double" + Gr. tomo "cut" + Gr. odon "tooth") (m) named for the bladelike shape of the tooth; to replace preoccupied Tomodon Leidy. Theropoda L. Cret. NA [nomen dubium]


    Diracodon Marsh 1881 "neck-point tooth"

    die-RAK-o-don (Gr. deire "neck" + Gr. ake "point" + Gr. odon "tooth")* (m) Marsh says: "The base of the crown is expanded, and below this is a distinct neck, which will readily distinguish these teeth"; originally described as a small Laosaurus-like ornithopod based on part of the jaws of a juvenile specimen. Marsh later identified the genus as a large stegosaur. Some modern researchers consider Diracodon a genus distinct from Stegosaurus, characterized in part by the large size of its dorsal plates. [= Stegosaurus]


    Doryphorosaurus Nopcsa 1916 "spear-carrier lizard"

    do-RIF-o-ro-SAWR-us (Gr. dory "spear" + Gr. -phoros "bearer" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) proposed replacement name for supposedly preoccupied Kentrosaurus, alluding to the spines along its back. [= Kentrosaurus]


    Draconyx Mateus & Antunes 2001 "dragon claw"

    dra-KON-iks or DRAK-o-niks (Lat. draco "dragon" + Gr. onyx "claw")* (m) named for the claw material found with the holotype. Draconyx is a medium-sized camptosaurid (est. around 4 m (13-14 ft) long) known from partial remains of a single individual, including teeth, caudal vertebrae, elements of the right forelimb, manus (including claws), hindlimbs and right foot (Holotype: ML 357 (Museu da Lourinha, Portugal)), found in the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Bombarral Unit at Vale Frades, Lourinha, western Portugal. Draconyx differs from Camptosaurus in details of its femur and its feet (including a vestigial first pedal digit and absent pedal digit V).

    Type Species: Draconyx loureiroi [loh-RAY-roo-ie] Mateus & Antunes 2001: for Joćo de Loureiro (1717-1791), "Portuguese Jesuit, pioneer in Paleontology in Portugal, also an excellent botanist, astronomer and medical doctor." Ornithopoda Iguanodontia Camptosauridae Late Jurassic (Tithonian)Eur.


    Dracopelta Galton 1980 "dragon-shield"

    drak-o-PEL-ta (Gr. drakon "dragon" + Gr. pelte "shield") (f) named for its armor. Ankylosauria Nodosauridae L. Jur. Eur.


    Drinker Bakker, Galton, Siegwarth & Filla 1990 "for Drinker (Cope)"

    DRING-kuhr (m) named to honor Edward Drinker Cope (1840--1897), American zoologist and pioneer paleontologist. E. D. Cope himself was named for Edward Drinker, a noted Quaker philanthropist and friend of the Cope family in Philadelphia. Ornithopoda Hypsilophodontidae L. Jur. NA.


    Dromaeosaurus Matthew & Brown 1922 "swift lizard"

    DROH-mee-o-SAWR-us (t.L.m.: dro-MEE-o-SAWR-us) (Gr. dromaios "swift, running" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named to indicate a small, lightly built "deinodont." Theropoda Coelurosauria Dromaeosauridae L. Cret. NA.


    Dromiceiomimus Russell 1972 "emu mimic"

    drom-i-SEE-o-MIEM-us (Dromiceius (from Gr. dromikos "swift" + -eios), a New Latin genus name for the emu + Gr. mimos "mimic") (m) alluding to the dinosaur's resemblance to a modern flightless ratite bird. (Vieillot's 1816 generic name Dromiceius (usually pronounced DROM-i-SEE-us) was irregularly formed, and was changed to Dromaius a few pages later in the same 1816 work. Many ornithologists use Dromaius instead as the valid generic name for the emu.) Theropoda Ornithomimosauria Ornithomimidae L. Cret. NA.


    Dromicosaurus Hoepen 1920 "swift lizard"

    DROM-ik-o-SAWR-us (Gr. dromikos "quickly walking, swift" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) named to indicate that: "The slender leg must have enabled the animal to go quicker than...Eucnemesaurus and also implies a more slender form." [= Massospondylus]


    Dryosaurus Marsh 1894 "tree lizard"

    DRIE-o-SAWR-us (Gr. drys "tree" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) alluding to the dinosaur's forest habitat and leaf-eating diet. Marsh envisioned the "Atlantosaurus beds" [Morrison] as a lush forest environment surrounding great fresh-water lakes where animals became fossilized, noting in 1897 that "herbivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic were denizens of a tropical climate, in which rank vegetation supplied them with food and served to protect them from carnivorous enemies." As early as 1877, he stated that Atlantosaurus "fed upon the foliage of mountain forests, portions of which are preserved with its remains." Smaller herbivorous dinosaurs would have browsed where early mammals such as Marsh's 1878 Dryolestes "tree robber" lived like modern opossums. (The word drys meant a large tree in ancient Greek, in particular the oak. Although the meaning "oak" is used in botanical nomenclature, the more general meaning "tree" is nearly universal in zoological nomenclature, apart from a few insect names. For example, the name Dryophis "tree snake" was used for a snake found in Africa, and has no connection with the "oak tree." Although Marsh's published etymology of Dryolestes defines drys as "tree," a number of modern sources seem fixated on interpreting the similar name Dryosaurus as "oak lizard," even suggesting that its teeth resembled oak leaves. Marsh published no descriptions of the teeth that cite such a detail (in fact, only one tooth was known for the type specimen of D. altus), and it is hard to see how the typically rounded lobate shapes of oak leaves in any way resemble the slightly serrate, ridged teeth of Dryosaurus. The broader interpretation "tree lizard" fits Marsh's own comments about the forest environment of ancient Wyoming and Colorado, as well as following common usage in zoological nomenclature.) Ornithopoda Dryosauridae L. Jur. NA. Afr.


    Dryptosauroides von Huene 1932 "Dryptosaurus-like (dinosaur)"

    DRIP-to-saw-ROI-deez (t.L.M.: DRIP-to-SAWR-o-IE-deez) (Dryptosaurus + -oides "like") (m) named for the supposed resemblance of the remains to those of Dryptosaurus. Theropoda i.s. L. Cret. India [nomen dubium]


    Dryptosaurus Marsh 1877 "tearing lizard"

    DRIP-to-SAWR-us (Gr. drypto "tear" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) named for the large compressed manual claws used to attack prey; the claws were originally thought to be on its feet, rather than on its forelimbs. (To replace preoccupied Laelaps Cope). Theropoda i.s. L. Cret. NA.


    Dynamosaurus Osborn 1905 "powerful lizard"

    DIEN-a-mo-SAWR-us (Gr. dynamis "power" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for its great size and powerful build. Osborn described the type specimens of Dynamosaurus imperiosus (BMNH) and Tyrannosaurus rex (CM 9380) in the same 1905 paper, and originally distinguished the two based on supposed dermal armor found with the ribs of the Dynamosaurus type skeleton. Osborn (1906) later changed his mind about the distinction and made Dynamosaurus a synonym of Tyrannosaurus; modern scholars now explain the "dermal armor" as an accidental association of nodosaur scutes with a Tyrannosaurus skeleton. Nonetheless, a few researchers over the years have proposed that the Tyrannosaurus and Dynamosaurus might represent distinct taxa on other grounds. Dale Russell suggested at one point that the mounted specimens of Tyrannosaurus at the British Museum of Natural History and at the American Museum of Natural History might be two different kinds of animals that could be referred to as Dynamosaurus and Tyrannosaurus respectively. A number of other researchers proposed that Dynamosaurus could be distinguished from Tyrannosaurus by fewer teeth in the front of its jaws and a shorter, more compact snout, and a slightly more massive build, based on the type specimen (in the British Museum of Natural History) and a specimen called "Black Beauty" at the Tyrrell Museum. Current research does not support these proposed taxonomic distinctions, which more likely reflect individual or growth variations in Tyrannosaurus. Instead, additional specimens found in recent years support the idea that Tyrannosaurus rex had two distinct sexual morphs, one larger and more robust (probably the female) and another somewhat smaller and more slender (probably the male). The specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex in the British Museum and American Museum of Natural History (AMNH 5027) would both belong to the "robust" (female?) morph. Type species: Dynamosaurus imperiosus [im-peer-ee-OH-sus] "mighty" [Tyrannosaurus]


    Dyoplosaurus Parks 1924 "double-armored lizard"

    DIE-o-plo-SAWR-us (Gr. dyo "two" + Gr. hoplon "weapon, shield" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for armor supposedly formed of two rows of large backwardly directed scutes on each side of the body, one row projecting sideways above the limbs and another row part-way up along the back. Ankylosauria Ankylosauridae L. Cret. NA.


    Dysalotosaurus Virchow 1919 "uncatchable lizard"

    dis-a-LOHT-o-SAWR-us (Gr. dysalotos "difficult to be captured" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named, seemingly, for the dinosaur's light, nimble build. However, the name also alludes to the German general Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870-1964), stationed in Tanzania, the colony in German East Africa where specimens of the dinosaur were found at Tendaguru. After the outbreak of World War I, Lettow-Vorbeck resorted to guerilla tactics, and successfully evaded the British and Belgian armies that pursued him and his men till the end of hostilities. The German scientist Virchow named the type species Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki in honor of the general's military feats. Dryosauridae L. Jur. EAfr. [= Dryosaurus]


    Dysganus Cope 1876 "rough enamel"

    DIS-ga-nus (Gr. dys- "bad, difficult" + Gr. ganos "luster [enamel]") (m) named for the uneven enamel on its teeth, with grooved cementum columns on two sides. Ceratopsia Ceratopidae L. Cret. NA. [nomen dubium]


    Dyslocosaurus McIntosh, Coombs & Russell 1992 "hard-to-place lizard"

    dis-LOK-o-SAWR-us (Gr. dys- "bad, poor" + Lat. locus "place" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) named "in reference to inadequate provenance information" It is unclear from available information if this fossil was found in deposits from the the Late Jurassic (Morrison) or the Late Cretaceous (Lance). Distinguished from other diplodocids by the presence of four or perhaps five claws on the hind feet. Sauropoda Diplodocidae ?L. Jur. or ?L. Cret. NA


    Dystrophaeus Cope 1877 "coarse joint"

    DIS-tro-FEE-us (Gr. dys- "bad, difficult" + for Gr. stropheus "joint, hinge, vertebra") (m) Cope explains that the surface of the limb joints is "coarser than that to which epiphyses are attached in the Mammalia. The name of the genus expresses this character." Such "coarse" limb-ends were covered in cartilage and indicate the animal continued to grow for its entire life. Sauropoda Diplodocidae L. Jur. NA. [nomen dubium]


    Dystylosaurus Jensen 1985 "double-beamed (vertebra) lizard"

    die-STIE-lo-SAWR-us (Gr. dyo "two" + Gr. stylos "beam" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) alluding to the double-beamed appearance of processes on the front end of the neural arch of the dorsal vertebrae: "having two parallel, diagonal infraprezygopophysal laminae supporting each hypantrozygapophysal arch in anterior dorsal vertebrae." NOTE: Recent research suggests that the type vertebra may be part of the huge Supersaurus skeleton found near the same site at Dry Mesa Dinosaur Quarry in Colorado, and thus belongs to a diplodocid, not a brachiosaurid. Sauropoda ?Brachiosauridae L. Jur. NA. [? nomen dubium (= ?Supersaurus)]


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