Open Paleo

Ouranosaurus

Taquet, 1976 oo-RAHN-o-SAWR-us

From 'ourane', an Arabic word for valor, courage, or recklessness that the Tuareg of Niger and the Berbers of Algeria use as the name for the sand monitor, and Greek 'sauros' meaning 'lizard'.

121.4–113.2 million years ago Aptian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

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 meters (23-27 ft) long and weighed 2.2 metric tons (2.4 short 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 (in Latin, the adjectival suffix -iensis means "originating from"). As such, Ouranosaurus nigeriensis could be interpreted as "brave lizard originating from Niger".

Diagnosis

  1. Rounded dorsal boss on the nasals, the only iguanodontid with a domed cranial roof at this level
  2. Long, low, duck-billed skull with extremely elongated straight premaxillae separating the nasals from the maxillae posteriorly
  3. External nares readily visible in dorsal view, with the orifice of convergence between the nasal canals set very far posteriorly
  4. Dorsal neural spines extremely elongated, reaching 3.9 times centrum height, the greatest elongation known among ornithopods
  5. Fifth metacarpal reduced to a small bony spur that is not directed laterally
  6. Long, straight ischium with a very narrow obturator canal and a very proximally placed obturator process

Species

Ouranosaurus nigeriensis Taquet, 1976

Type species

Named for Niger, the country of discovery, with the Latin suffix '-iensis' meaning 'originating from'.

Holotype
MNHN GDF 300 , Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
Material
Nearly complete skeleton with skull, missing most of both femora, the left tibia and hindfoot, the last caudal vertebrae, some chevrons, and several skull bones including the left maxilla
Horizon
GAD 5 Bed, Elrhaz Formation, Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–113.2 million years ago
Locality
Camp des deux arbres, Gadoufaoua, Agadez, Niger

References

  1. Taquet, P. (1972). Il giacimento di Gadoufaoua [The locality of Gadoufaoua]. I Dinosauri del Teneré 41: 51-60. Longanesi & Co. Panorami Scientifici.

    Carried a photograph of the skeleton but no diagnosis; Taquet's 1976 monograph records this and two earlier 1972 appearances of the name as published without one.

    taquet1972a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a
  3. Taquet, P. (1976). Géologie et paléontologie du gisement de Gadoufaoua (Aptien du Niger). Cahiers de Paléontologie. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. taquet1976a