Dinosauria Translation and Pronunciation Guide G

Ben Creisler

Gallimimus Osmolska, Roniewcz & Barsbold 1972 "chicken mimic"

GAL-i-MIEM-us (Lat. gallus "rooster, chicken" + Gr. mimos "mimic) (m) so-named "because of striking similar structure of anterior portion of the neck to that of representatives of the Galliformes [chickens]." Theropoda Ornithomimosauria Ornithomimidae L. Cret. CAs.

Galtonia Hunt & Lucas 1994 "for P. Galton"

gal-TOHN-ee-a (f) named to honor Peter M. Galton, American vertebrate paleontologist "who recognized these teeth as ornithischian[/predentatan], and for his many contributions to the study of ornithischian[/predentatan] dinosaurs"; for "Thecodontosaurus" gibbidens Cope 1878. Ornithischia[/Predentata] i.s. L. Trias. NA.

Gargoyleosaurus Carpenter, Miles & Cloward 1998 "gargoyle lizard"

gahr-GOI-lo-SAWR-us (English gargoyle, a sculptured gutter in the form of a grotesque monster, used to decorate Gothic churches (from French gargouille) + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named after the resemblance of the skull to the head of a gargoyle in profile; for a primitive ankylosaurid from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. As in advanced Cretaceous ankylosaurids, the skull is broad and triangular, with hornlike scutes at the back; the openings in the upper temporal region and in front of the eye are closed and fused armor covers the skull and lower jaw. However, Gargoyleosaurus shows a close relationship of nodosaurids in a number of features not found in advanced ankylosaurids: the air passage is straight, not convoluted; the premaxillaries form a long and narrow beak at the tip of the skull, not a broad flat mouth; the brain bends sharply downward. The seven conical premaxillary teeth (another nodosaurid-like feature) somewhat resemble those of early stegosaurs while the simple leaf-shaped cheek teeth are similar to those of primitive ornithischians and lack the swollen crowns typical of later ankylosaurids. The body armor is made up of thin walled cones, with at least two elongated spines projecting from each shoulder. The mixture of features typical of later ankylosaurids with those of nodosaurids and other ornithischians indicate ankylosaurids and nodosaurids share a common ancestor, and the Ankylosauria and the Stegosauria are also related. The postcranial material is still being prepared and may provide additional insights. Est. length: 3 meters (10 ft.). Type species: Gargoyleosaurus parkpini [PAHRK-pin-ie] for J. Parker and T. Pinegar, who discovered the holotype. Ankylosauria Ankylosauridae L. Jur. NA.

Garudimimus Barsbold 1981 "Garuda mimic"

gah-ROOD-i-MIEM-us (Garuda, a monstrous bird in Asian mythology + Gr. mimos "mimic") (m) named for the birdlike appearance of the skull and skeleton of form found in Central Asia (Mongolia). Theropoda Ornithomimosauria Ornithomimidae L. Cret. CAs. (Mongolia)

Gasosaurus Dong 1985 "gas lizard" [qilong]

GAS-o-SAWR-us (English gas (from Dutch spelling of Greek chaos) + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) alluding to the Dashanpu gas-mining company that found the fossil quarry; the Chinese name qilong "gas dragon" is a pun, since the word qi "gas" can also mean "trouble," appropriate to a predator. Theropoda Carnosauria i.s. M. Jur. China

Gasparinisaura Coria & Salgado 1996 "Gasparini's lizard"

gas-pah-REEN-ee-SAWR-a (Gasparini + Gr. saura "lizard") (f) named to honor Dr. Zulma B. Gasparini, Argentine paleontologist, "for her contribution to the study of Mesozoic reptiles from Patagonia"; for a small basal iguanodontian from Patagonia. Ornithopoda Iguanodontia L. Cret. SA. (Argentina)

Gastonia Kirkland 1998 "for (R.) Gaston"

gas-TOH-nee-a (Gaston + -ia) (f) named to honor Robert Gaston, "who discovered the type locality and has contributed greatly to the research." Gastonia is a medium-to-large sized (4-to-6-meter (14-to-20-foot) long) Polacanthus-like ankylosaur, known from disarticulated skull and skeleton parts (CEUM 1307) of 4 to 5 individuals, and more than a 1000 bones and pieces of armor; found in the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Barremian), in Grand County, Utah.

The skull is broad and triangular as in primitive ankylosaurids, but with large, forward-placed nasal openings and a curved notch along the lower tip of the snout. The eyes are forward facing and the braincase appears to be movable, perhaps to cushion impacts when adults butted heads in intraspecific combat. Gastonia differs from Polacanthus in the construction of its pelvis, including three rather than four fused vertebrae in the sacrum, and in details of its limbs. Most elements of the armor appear to be present in the remains, although the exact arrangement was not preserved in the disarticulated specimens. Gastonia had a spectacular variety of body armor, including a fused sacral shield over the hips; large triangular plates that project sideways along the tail and provide a dangerous weapon when lashed back and forth; large spines that project outwards horizontally over its shoulders with additional curving spines in two erect rows along its back; tear-drop shaped scutes form additional bands along the back, with symmetrical keeled scutes along the top of the tail. Contrary to some reports, Gastonia and other polacanthids did not have a tail club.

Type species: Gastonia burgei [BUHR-jie] Kirkland 1998, for Donald L. Burge, "director of the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum, in recognition of his ongoing contributions to dinosaur paleontology in eastern Utah."

Ankylosauria Ankylosauridae (Polacanthinae) Early Cretaceous (Barremian) NA. [entry added 11-98]

Genasauria Sereno 1986 "cheeked lizards"

JEN-a-SAWR-ee-a (Lat. gena "cheek" + Gr. sauros "lizard" + -ia) (n) For ornithischians[/predentatans] with muscular cheeks (excluding some early forms such as Lesothosaurus). [clade]

Genusaurus Accarie, Beaudoin, Dejax, Fries, Michard & Taquet 1995 "knee lizard"

JEN-oo-SAWR-us (Lat. genu "knee" + Gr. sauros "lizard") alluding to "the extreme development" of the cnemial crest on the tibia; described as the latest known ceratosaur. Theropoda Ceratosauria E. Cret. Eur. (France)

Genyodectes Woodward 1901 "jaw-biter"

JEN-ee-o-DEK-teez (Gr. genys "jaw, chin" + Gr. dektes "biter") (m) named for parts of the upper and lower jaws in which "the inner wall of the dentary completing the tooth-sockets appears to be continuous and as high as the outer wall," unlike in Megalosaurus. Theropoda Abelisauria Abelisauridae L. Cret. SA. [nomen dubium]

Geranosaurus Broom 1911 "crane lizard"

JER-an-o-SAWR-us (Gr. geranos "crane" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) probably referring to the "slender birdlike hind-limb bones". Ornithopoda Heterodontosauridae E. Jur. SAf. [nomen dubium]

Giganotosaurus Coria & Salgado 1995 "giant southern lizard"

jig-a-NOT-o-SAWR-us (Gr. gigas "giant" + Gr. notos "south" + Gr. sauros "lizard") named to indicate a gigantic theropod (13 m. +) from South America (Argentina); apparently longer and heavier than Tyrannosaurus. Theropoda Carcharodontosauridae L. Cret. SA.

Gigantosaurus Seeley 1869 "giant lizard"

ji-GAN-to-SAWR-us (Gr. gigant- (gigas) "giant" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for the large size of parts of a limb and foot. Sauropoda Brachiosauridae L. Jur. Eur. [nomen dubium]

Gigantosaurus E. Fraas 1908 "giant lizard"

ji-GAN-to-SAWR-us (Gr. gigant- (gigas) "giant" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) "The name Gigantosaurus particularly characterizes the gigantic dimensions of this African genus." Fraas thought incorrectly that Seeley's name Gigantosaurus was available since it was then considered a junior synonym of Ornithopsis. (Preoccupied by Gigantosaurus Seeley 1869. See Tornieria.) [= Tornieria]

Gigantoscelus van Hoepen 1916 "giant limb"

ji-gan-TOS-kel-us (Gr. gigant- (gigas) "giant" + Gr. skele "hind limb" + -us) (m) named for the large size of part of a femur. Prosauropoda L. Trias. SAfr. [nomen dubium (?Euskelosaurus)]

Gilmoreosaurus Brett-Surman 1979 "Gilmore's lizard"

GIL-mohr-o-SAWR-us (C. W. Gilmore + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named to honor Charles Whitney Gilmore (1874-1945), American vertebrate paleontologist, who originally described the flat-headed hadrosaur specimen as "Mandschurosaurus" mongoliensis. Ornithopoda Hadrosauridae Hadrosaurinae L. Cret. CAs.

Giraffatitan Paul 1988 "giraffe titan"

ji-RAF-a-TIE-tan (New Latin Giraffa (from Arabic zirafah) "giraffe" + Gr. Titan, a mythical giant) (m) named for its resemblance to the modern long-necked giraffe; proposed for Brachiosaurus (Giraffatitan) brancai as an African subgenus, but viewed as a possible distinct genus by a few researchers. Brachiosauridae L. Jur. EAfr. [= Brachiosaurus]

Glyptodontopelta Ford 2000 "glyptodont shield"

GLIP-to-don-to-PEL-tuh (Glyptodon (Gr. glyptos "carved" + Gr. odon "tooth") + Gr. pelte "shield") (f) "in reference to the shape of the pelvic shield that forms a shield similar to that of glyptodont." Glyptodontopelta is a known from a section of dorsal armor (Holotype: USNM 8610 (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution)), found in the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Naashoibito Member of the Kirtland Shale, in the Barrel Springs Arroyo, San Juan County, New Mexico. Gilmore (1919) originally described the specimen: "Scutes of this type are probably from the skin above the pelvic region, where they must formed a pelvic shield much as in Polacanthus and Stegopelta." Along with additional fragments of similar armor from other sites, the fossils indicate a nodosaurid ankylosaur apparently resembling Middle Cretaceous Sauropelta, but dating from the Late Cretaceous Maastrichtian. The armor consists of "large, asymmetric, irregularly hexagonal, pentagonal, or quadrilateral scutes that have low or flat peaks abutting each other and are set in a mosaic pattern... forming a solid shield over the ilia...leaving no room for small ossicles or rosettes around the scutes" (Ford 2000).

Type species: Glyptodontopelta mimus [MIE-mus] Ford 2000 "mimic" for the resemblance of the pelvic shield to that of a glyptodont. Ankylosauria Nodosauridae Sauropeltinae Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) NA. [added 12-2000]

Gojirasaurus Carpenter 1997 "Godzilla lizard"

go-JEER-a-SAWR-us (Gojira, Japanese name for movie monster called "Godzilla" in English + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) named for "Gojira, a large fictional monster of the Japanese cinema, in reference to the large size of this Triassic theropod." The type material is incomplete and consists of a serrated tooth, four ribs, four dorsal vertebrae, a tall neural arch, a tail chevron, the right scapula, right pubis, left tibia, and a metatarsal, as well as two possible gastralia. The large neural arch probably comes from a dorsal vertebra--it was not fused to the centrum of a vertebra, indicating the dinosaur specimen was not fully grown. Assuming the animal resembled the related Coelophysis in general form, the individual was probably about 5.5 m. (18.3 ft.) long based on the length of the tibia, with a mature specimen being even larger (6+ m. (20+ ft.)). It would be among the biggest Triassic theropods known, and thus a "monster" in its world. (Gojira is a combination of English "gorilla" and Japanese kujira "whale," and was reportly the nickname of a burly employee at the Toho movie studios where the movie monster was created and named.) Type species: G. quayi [KWAY-ie] "of Quay County (New Mexico)," where the fossil was found in the Early Norian Cooper Canyon Formation at Revuelto Creek. Theropoda Ceratosauria ?Coelophyseidae L. Trias. NA.

Gondwanatitan Kellner & de Azevedo 1999 "Gondwana titan"

gon-DWAHN-uh-TIE-tuhn (Gondwana ("land of the Gonds," after a Dravidian people (Gonds) of southern India) + Gr. Titan, a race of mythical giants) (m) named for the ancient continental mass of Gondwana that once united the modern southern continents (South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, India), to indicate a titanosaur sauropod from South America. Gondwanatitan is a relatively small (6-7 m (20-24 ft) long), lightly built titanosaur, known from an incomplete skeleton lacking a skull (Holotype: MN 4111-V (Museu Nacional)) found in the Late Cretaceous (? Santonian) Bauru Group, Adamantina Formation, near the city of Alvares Machado, Sao Paulo State, southern Brazil. The anterior caudal (tail) vertebrae have an unusual heart-shaped distal articulation and neural spines that are strongly directed forward; the humerus has a well developed deltopectoral crest. The preserved limb bones (humerus and tibia) are comparatively long and slender; the six sacral vertebrae are lightly built compared to the more massive caudal vertebrae. Without better material from other titanosaurs for comparison, the phylogenetic position of Gondwanatitan is uncertain--it appears to share some features of the caudal vertebrae with Aeolosaurus. The procoelous posterior caudal vertebrae are an advanced feature that separate it from Malawisaurus and Andesaurus; the shapes of the anterior caudal vertebrae set it apart from Saltasaurus.

Type Species: Gondwanatitan faustoi [FOW-stoh-ie] Kellner & de Azevedo 1999: in honor of Fausto L. de Souza Cunha, former curator at the Museu Nacional/UFRJ, who collected and recognized the importance of the specimen. Sauropoda Titanosauria Late Cretaceous (?Santonian) SA [added 12/99]

Gongbusaurus Dong, Zhou & Zhang 1983 "Ministry of Public Works lizard" [gongbulong]

GUNG-BOO-SAWR-us (Chin. gong "work" + Chin. bu "board, ministry" + Gr. sauros "lizard")* (m) named for the "Gong Bu," popular term for the government Ministry of Public Works in feudal China. The name commemorates the great Chinese poet Du Fu (712-770 A.D.), a one-time official of the Gong Bu in Shu (Sichuan) with the title "shi yi," signifying a kind of junior counselor ("Consultant Auxiliary Secretary to the Ministry of Public Works") under the Tang bureaucracy, hence the type species name G. shiyii (shuhr-YI-ie). However, the characters shi yi can also mean "collect lost property" in modern Chinese. Since the idea of objects being lost and found again is similar to finding and collecting fossils from Sichuan Province, the name alludes by pun to the famous poet's professional position and to fossil hunting. Ornithopoda i.s. L. Jur. China [nomen dubium]

Gongxianosaurus He, Wang, Liu S., Zhou, Liu T., Cai & Dai 1998 "Gongxian (China) lizard"

GOONG-shyen-o-SAWR-us (Gongxian (Chin. gong "arch" + xian "county") + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for Gongxian County in southern Sichuan Province, China, where the type material was found in the Donyuemiao Member of the Early Jurassic Ziliujing Formation. Based on a fairly complete, well-preserved post-cranial skeleton and fragmentary parts of a skull (premaxillae, jaw section, possible immature tooth). Gongxianosaurus was a large animal (14 m. (46 ft.) long) and could be either a very robust quadrupedal prosauropod (if so, the largest known) or a primitive (basal) sauropod. The heavily built forelimbs are 70-75% the length of the hindlimbs, but have a radius and an ulna only about 60% the length of the humerus. The femur is broad and massive. The hind feet show some similarity to quadrupedal prosauropods such as melanorosaurids but with shorter more robust metatarsals. Gastralia (belly ribs) were found with the skeleton, a feature typical of prosauropods. The shape of the premaxilla suggests the snout had a steep, rather bulbous profile.

Type Species: Gongxianosaurus shibeiensis [shuhr-bay-EN-sis] He, Wang, Liu S., Zhou, Liu T., Cai & Dai 1998: "from Shibei" for the village of Shibei, near where the type material was found in Gongxian County. Sauropodomorpha Prosauropoda (or ?Sauropoda) Early Jurassic China [added 5/99]

Goniopoda Cope 1866 "angled feet"

gohn-ee-OP-od-a (Gr. gonia "angle" + Gr. pod- (pous) "foot" + -a) Cope originally misinterpreted theropod foot anatomy based on Dryptosaurus (Laelaps), concluding that unlike in other reptiles: "The direction of the condyle indicates the articulation of the tarsal elements to have been at a considerable angle to the shank of the leg, and that the animal was entirely plantigrade, and was unable to extend the foot in line with the lower leg." "This group is named from the abrupt flexure of the ankle in the middle of the tarsus." Replaced by Marsh's Theropoda. [obsolete name]

Gorgosaurus Lambe 1914 "fierce lizard"

GOR-go-SAWR-us (Gr. gorgos "fierce, terrible, swift" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named for its carnivorous nature. Despite the name, Lambe believed that "Gorgosaurus was sluggish and not a quick mover, and that it fed, not on the fresh flesh of animals necessarily of its own killing but rather on carcasses found or stumbled across during its hunger impelled wanderings." Theropoda Coelurosauria Tyrannosauridae L. Cret. NA

Goyocephale Perle, Maryanska & Osmolska 1982 "adorned head"

GOH-yo-SEF-a-lee (Mongolian goyo "elegant, decorated" + Gr. kephale "head") (f) referring to the knobs and spikes on its thick armored skull. Pachycephalosauria Homalocephalidae L. Cret. Mongolia

Graciliceratops Sereno 2000 "slender horn face"

GRAS-i-li-SAYR-a-tops (Lat. gracilis "slender" + Gr. kerat- (keras) "horn" + Gr. ops "face") (m) named for its small size and light build. Graciliceratops is a small protoceratopsid based on an incomplete skeleton and skull (Holotype: PAL MgD-I/156 (Institute of Paleobiology, Warsaw)) found in the Late Cretaceous (pre-Campanian) Shireegiin Gashuun Formation, Omnogov (South Gobi), southern Mongolia. The newly designated holotype of Graciliceratops was previously identified as a specimen of Microceratops gobiensis by Maryanska and Osmolska in 1975. According to Sereno, however, the original very fragmentary holotype material for Microceratops gobiensis described by Bohlin in 1953 (teeth, fragments of jaws and post-crania) lacks any diagnostic features other than indicating a small immature protoceratopsid--meaning Microceratops should be considered a nomen dubium, and the much more complete 1975 specimen described by Maryanska and Osmolska should be given a new name (Graciliceratops). Descriptions of Microceratops in recent popular and scientific literature have been based mainly on the 1975 specimen. The type specimen for Graciliceratops (= the 1975 specimen of "Microceratops") is an immature individual about 90 cm (3 ft) long (skull 20 cm (4 in) long), and it is possible that adult Graciliceratops might have been as large as Protoceratops. The forelimb is about 70% the length of the hindlimb skeleton. Proportions of the hindlimb elements indicate Graciliceratops may have able to run bipedally.

Type Species: Graciliceratops mongoliensis [MONG-go-lee-EN-sis] Sereno 2000: "from Mongolia" Ceratopsia Late Cretaceous (pre-Campanian) Mongolia

Gravitholus Wall & Galton 1979 "heavy dome"

GRAV-i-THOL-us (t.L.m.: gra-VITH-o-lus) (Lat. gravis "heavy" + Gr. tholos "dome") (m) "referring to the enlarged dome" of a pachycephalosaur skull. Pachycephalosauria Pachycephalosauridae L. Cret. NA.

Gresslyosaurus Ruetimeyer 1857 "Gressly's lizard"

GRES-lee-o-SAWR-us (Gressly + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named to honor Amanz Gressly (1814--1865), Swiss geologist and paleontologist (to replace preoccupied Dinosaurus Ruetimeyer 1856) [= Plateosaurus]

Griphosaurus Wagner 1861 "engima lizard"

GRIF-o-SAWR-us (for Gr. gryphos "enigma" + saurus)* (m) named to indicate its puzzling nature. Wagner says: "the identity of these epidermic structures with true birds' feathers is by no means proved; they might still only be peculiar adornments...I do not hesitate to regard this as a reptile of the order Sauria... Darwin and his adherents will probably employ the new discovery as an exceedingly welcome occurrence for the justification of the their strange views upon the transformation of animals....their views must at once be rejected as fantastic dreams with which the exact investigation of nature has nothing to do." (See additional comments at Archaeopteryx.) (Placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names as an objective synonym of Archaeopteryx by ICZN Opinion # 607) [= Archaeopteryx]

Gryponyx Broom 1911 "curved claw"

GRIP-on-iks (Gr. grypos "crooked, curved" + Gr. onyx "claw") (m) probably referring to "the huge claw of the pollex" on the manus; "the curve of the upper side of the claw is part of a circle with a radius of about 60mm." [= Massospondylus]

Gryposaurus Lambe 1914 "hook-nosed lizard"

GRIP-o-SAWR-us (Gr. grypos "crooked, curved, hook-nosed" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) Lambe explains: "the generic term having reference to one of the most striking features of the skull, viz., the prominence attained by the upper marginal curve of the nasal bones." The Latin type species name notabilis no-TAY-bi-lis "remarkable, notable" alludes to a type skull "remarkable for its splendid state of preservation...as close to perfection as can be expected in a fossil vertebrate of large size." (See additional comments at Kritosaurus.) Ornithopoda Hadrosauridae Hadrosaurinae L. Cret. NA.

Guaibasaurus Bonaparte, Ferigolo & Ribeiro 1999 "Rio Guaiba lizard"

GWIE-bah-SAWR-us ((Rio) Guaiba (River) + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named "after the 'Rio Guaiba Hydrographic Basin,' where the fossil was collected as part of the 'Pro-Guaiba Project,' a scientific program supporting research on Triassic fossils" in Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil; for a very primitive saurischian dinosaur, possibly representing a form close to the ancestry of both the Theropoda and Prosauropoda. Guaibasaurus is known from an incomplete skeleton lacking a skull (Holotype: MCN-PV 2355 (Museu de Ciencias Naturais da Fundacao Zoobotanica do Rio Grande do Sul)), representing vertebrae, parts of ribs, incomplete scapula and coracoids, pubes, ischia, a partial hind limb and feet, and a second specimen consisting of parts of a lower hind leg articulated with a complete foot; found in the early Late Triassic Caturrita Formation, near Candelaria City, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Guaibasaurus is more primitive than Herrerasaurus and Staurikosaurus in the structure of the dorsal vertebrae, ilium, pubis, femur, tarsus and foot, and differs from early prosauropods in the structure of the dorsal vertebrae and femur. Probably around 1.2 m (4 ft) long.

Type Species: Guaibasaurus candelariensis [kahn-day-LAHR-ee-EN-sis] Bonaparte, Ferigolo & Ribeiro 1999: after Candelaria, the city near the fossil locality, where the fossil was collected. Saurischia ?Theropoda Guaibasauridae Late Triassic SA. [added 12/99]

Gyposaurus Broom 1911 "vulture lizard"

JIP-o-SAWR-us (Gr. gyp- (gyps) "vulture" + Gr. sauros "lizard") (m) named to indicate a prosauropod from South Africa, originally characterized as a "carnivorous Dinosaur." [= Anchisaurus]