Genus
Valid Extinct

Ouranosaurus

Taquet 1972
Etymology Reptile courageux

Ouranosaurus is a genus of herbivorous basal hadrosauriform dinosaur that lived during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous of modern-day Niger and Cameroon. Ouranosaurus measured about 7–8.3 metres (23–27 ft) long and weighed 2.2 metric tons. Two rather complete fossils were found in the Elrhaz Formation, Gadoufaoua deposits, Agadez, Niger, in 1965 and 1970, with a third indeterminate specimen known from the Koum Formation of Cameroon. The animal was named in 1976 by French paleontologist Philippe Taquet, the type species being Ouranosaurus nigeriensis. The generic name is a combination of ourane, a word with multiple meanings, and sauros, the Greek word for lizard. The specific epithet nigeriensis alludes to Niger, its country of discovery. As such, Ouranosaurus nigeriensis could be interpreted as "brave lizard originating from Niger".

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
8
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Ouranosaurus
click to enlarge
MSNVE 3714, Ouranosaurus nigeriensis. The mounted specimen as exhibited today at the MSNVE. For scale, the right femur is 920 mm long. © Filippo Bertozzo​​, Fabio Marco Dalla Vecchia​, Matteo Fabbri · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia
Ouranosaurus
Ouranosaurus
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Ornithischia Unranked clade
Neornithischia Unranked clade
Pyrodontia Unranked clade
Cerapoda Unranked clade
Ornithopoda Suborder
Iguanodontia Infraorder
Euiguanodontia Unranked clade
Dryomorpha Unranked clade
Ankylopollexia Unranked clade
Neoiguanodontia Unranked clade
Ouranosaurus Genus
Measurements
Length
7 m
Fossil sites 8 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇳🇪 Niger
4
🇨🇲 Cameroon
2
🇹🇳 Tunisia
1
🇸🇩 Sudan
1
Geological formations
Elrhaz
4
Koum
2
Aïn el Guettar
1
Wadi Milk
1
Temporal distribution
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
1
Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)
4
Aptian (121.4–113.2 Ma)
3
Species (1)
Ouranosaurus nigeriensis 121 Ma
Images 4
Bibliography
Original description
P. Taquet. 1972. Il giacimento di Gadoufaoua [The locality of Gadoufaoua]. I Dinosauri del Teneré 41:51-60
Bibliography (6)
P. Taquet. 2010. The dinosaurs of Maghreb: the history of their discovery. Historical Biology 22(1–3):88-99 DOI ↗
O. W. M. Rauhut. 1999. A dinosaur fauna from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of northern Sudan. Palaeontologia Africana 35:61-84
J. D. Congleton, L. J. Flynn, and L. L. Jacobs, M. Brunet, J. Dejax, J. V. Hell, D. Pilbeam. 1992. Preliminary correlation of continental sediments of the Koum basin, northern Cameroon. Aspects of Nonmarine Cretaceous Geology. China Ocean Press, Beijing
L. J. Flynn and M. Brunet. 1989. Early Cretaceous vertebrates from Cameroon. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 9(3, suppl.):21A
P. Taquet. 1976. Géologie et Paléontologie du Gisement de Gadoufaoua (Aptien du Niger) [Geology and Paleontology of the Gadoufaoua Locality (Aptian of Niger)]. Cahiers de Paléontologie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris DOI ↗
P. Taquet. 1972. Il giacimento di Gadoufaoua [The locality of Gadoufaoua]. I Dinosauri del Teneré 41:51-60