biology

List of informally named dinosaurs

List of informally named dinosaurs is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of informally named dinosaurs rather than just read about it. In short: This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of dinosaurs (excluding birds) that have never been given formally published scientific names. This list only includes names that were not properly published ("unavailable names") and have not since been published under a valid name (see list of dinosaur genera for valid names).

Key takeaways

List of informally named dinosaurs belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of informally named dinosaurs to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of informally named dinosaurs from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of dinosaurs (excluding birds) that have never been given formally published scientific names. This list only includes names that were not properly published ("unavailable names") and have not since been published under a valid name (see list of dinosaur genera for valid names). The following types of names are present on this list:

Nomen nudum, Latin for "naked name": A name that has appeared in print but has not yet been formally published by the standards of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Nomina nuda (the plural form) are invalid, and are therefore not italicized as a proper generic name would be. Nomen manuscriptum, Latin for "manuscript name": A name that appears in manuscript but was not formally published. A nomen manuscriptum is equivalent to a nomen nudum for everything except the method of publication, and description. Nomen ex dissertationae, Latin for "dissertation name": A name that appears in a dissertation but was not formally published. Nicknames or descriptive names given to specimens or taxa by researchers or the press.

Alamotyrannus

"Alamotyrannus" ("Ojo Alamo tyrant") is the informal placeholder name given to an as yet undescribed genus or species of tyrannosaurid from the Late Cretaceous period of North America. The fossils of this animal originate from the Ojo Alamo Formation in New Mexico and they were discovered during the early 2000s. The suggested binomial "Alamotyrannus brinkmani", was created when the paper describing the genus was written in 2013. "Alamotyrannus" lived during the early Maastrichtian. Specimen ACM 7975, a jaw discovered in the Ojo Alamo Formation, New Mexico in 1924, has been tentatively identified as Gorgosaurus libratus but may instead belong to "Alamotyrannus" as per Dalman & Lucas (2013) and McDavid (2022). This specimen has been mentioned in a 2016 publication by Dalman and Lucas as an indeterminate tyrannosaurid without generic attribution, and it's noted that the specimen is under study by the senior author. Photograph taken by McDavid (2022) shows the specimen on display in the Beneski Museum of Natural History.

Alan the Dinosaur

"Alan the Dinosaur" is the name given to a sauropod caudal vertebra (YORYM:2001.9337) found in 1995 in the Saltwick Formation (Middle Jurassic, Aalenian) of Whitby, England. It is the oldest sauropod found in the United Kingdom, dating back 176-172 million years ago. Its name references that of its discoverer, Alan Gurr, and the fact that it is not identifiable to species level. An analysis done in 2015 found that it was a member of Eusauropoda, could be excluded from Diplodocoidea, and was most similar to Cetiosaurus. The fossil of "Alan" is housed in the Yorkshire Museum, where it forms part of the Yorkshire's Jurassic World exhibit, featuring a VR recreation.

Allosaurus robustus

"Allosaurus robustus" is an informal name used for specimen "NMV P150070", a theropod astragalus known from the Wonthaggi Formation (Early Cretaceous) of Victoria, Australia. When first studied, it was thought to have belonged to a species of Allosaurus. Samuel Welles challenged this identification as he thought that the astragalus belonged to an ornithomimid, but the original authors defended their classification. Sometime in the early 2000s, Daniel Chure examined the bone and found that it did not represent a new species of Allosaurus, but could still represent an allosauroid. At the same time, Yoichi Azuma and Phil Currie noted that the astragalus resembled that of their new genus Fukuiraptor. It may well represent a theropod related to Australovenator, though some argue that it could represent an abelisauroid. A 2019 study strongly supported a megaraptoran (the group which contains both Fukuivenator and Australovenator) affinity for the astragalus. The name "Allosaurus robustus", first confined as a museum label, was first published by Chure in 2000.

Amargastegos "Amargastegos" is an informal genus of extinct stegosaurid ornithischian dinosaur known from the La Amarga Formation of Argentina, named by Roman Ulansky in 2014 on the basis of MACN N-43 (some dorsal osteoderms, the cervical and caudal vertebrae, and one skull bone), and the type species is "A. brevicollum". In 2016, Peter Malcolm Galton and Kenneth Carpenter declared it a nomen nudum, establishing it as an indeterminate stegosaur.

Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus/Barackosaurus

"Barackosaurus" is the informal name created in 2010 which is used for a sauropod found in Kimmeridgian-aged sediments pertaining to the Morrison Formation, Wyoming. It was found in the Dana Quarry and "Barackosaurus" was supposedly 20 meters long and weighed 20 tons. In 2010, an article was made available, but not formally published, by Henry Galiano and Raimund Albersdorfer in which they dubbed the Dana Quarry specimens which had already been referred to as "Barackosaurus" as "Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus". The specific name referred to their hypothesis based on these specimens that nearly all Morrison diplodocid species are either growth stages or represent sexual dimorphism among members of the genus Amphicoelias, but this analysis was met with skepticism and the publication itself has been disclaimed by its lead author, explaining that it is "obviously a drafted manuscript complete with typos, etc., and not a final paper. In fact, no printing or distribution has been attempted". As of 2015, they are now on display at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in Singapore.

Andhrasaurus "Andhrasaurus" is an informal genus of extinct armored ornithischian dinosaur from the Kota Formation of India. The proposed species is "A. indicus". Ulansky (2014) coined the name for skull elements, about 30 osteoderms, and the extremities of vertebrae and limbs, all preserved in the collections of the GSI and assigned to Ankylosauria by Nath et al. (2002). In 2016, Peter Malcolm Galton and Kenneth Carpenter noted that "Andhrasaurus" did not meet ICZN requirements and therefore declared it a nomen nudum, listing it as Thyreophora indet., while noting that the jawbones described by Nath et al. (2002) belonging to crocodylomorphs. The dermal armor informally named "Andhrasaurus" was redescribed by Galton (2019), referring the material to Ankylosauria.

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of informally named dinosaurs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of informally named dinosaurs claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of informally named dinosaurs before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of informally named dinosaurs ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of informally named dinosaurs

In research: List of informally named dinosaurs appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of informally named dinosaurs in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of informally named dinosaurs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of dinosaurs, Lists of prehistoric animal genera (alphabetic), Nomina nuda, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of informally named dinosaurs outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of informally named dinosaurs in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is List of informally named dinosaurs in simple terms?

Why does List of informally named dinosaurs matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of informally named dinosaurs?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of informally named dinosaurs.