Weirdosaurus Rex Returns Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gargoyleosaurus

Gargoyleosaurus, the gargoyle lizard, was discovered in western North America in the Morrison Formation and dated to about 155 million years ago. (For comparison purposes, most known ankylosaurs lived during the Cretaceous.) Unlike later ankylosaurs, it had teeth on its upper jaw and its armor was hollow. The holotype skeleton resides at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Answer: Pantydraco

Dug up in Pant-y-ffynnon, Wales, Pantydraco is a sauropodmorph from the Triassic era. It was originally classified as a Thecodontosaurus but reclassified as its own genus. Pantydraco grew to about the size of an adult human and its low center of mass suggests it was bipedal. Pantydraco appears to have traits of both carnivores and herbivores, and is thus believed to have been omnivorous.

Answer: Erectopus

The fossil for Erectopus was discovered in eastern France in the late 1800s and originally classified as a Megalosaurus. Through casts of its remains (the originals have mostly been lost), it was determined that its more upright feet separated it from Megalosaurus, and it was eventually classified by itself, as Erectopus superbus.

It was a relatively small theropod from the Cretaceous. And yes, it was named because its feet are upright. It just doesn't come off that way.

Answer: Darwinsaurus

What we now call Darwinsaurus was first unearthed in southern England in the early 19th Century. It was originally classified as an iguanodon and later a hypselospinus, but in 2012 it was reclassified as a new species, Darwinsaurus evolutionis. The person who named it says it's a reference to the evolutionary radiation (rapid diversification) seen in iguanodontids as well as Charles Darwin.

Some people consider Darwinsaurus to be a juvenile Huxleysaurus, itself so-named after Thomas Henry Huxley, nicknamed Darwin's bulldog.

Answer: Irritator

Irritator is a spinosaur-type dinosaur known from a partial skull recovered in Brazil. Fossil poachers used plaster to make the skull appear bigger and better-preserved to get a better price for it. The irritation that the buyers felt while restoring the skull to its original shape is how Irritator got its name. Irritator is believed to have lived in a swampy environment and eaten fish.

It either hunted or scavenged larger animals too.

Answer: Zby

Zby? Yep, it was named after Georges Zbyszewski, a Polish-born Portuguese geologist who died about 15 years before it was discovered. The partial skeleton of Zby was recovered from Portugal's Lourinhã Formation in 2014. Zby is classified as a turiasaurian sauropod, a subgroup of the true sauropods. Its remains were dated to the late Jurassic.

Answer: Borogovia

Borogovia was a small, carnivorous troodontid that was unearthed in Mongolia in 1971. Halszka Osmólska described the dinosaur a few years later, and for whatever reason decided to name it after the borogoves of 'Jabberwocky' fame. Its sparse remains show it has a relatively weak, flat second toe compared to other troodontids.

Answer: Texasetes

Despite the malaise that comes with the name, Texasetes simply means 'from Texas'. Texasetes is an ankylosaur that was found in (you guessed it) the Paw Paw Formation of Texas. The remains are sparse, and it took some time for it to be properly classified. Some people believe that Texasetes is just another Pawpawsaurus, another ankylosaur from the Paw Paw Formation.

Answer: Bambiraptor

Bambiraptor is a small theropod that lived during the Cretaceous. It is an important discovery not just because it was discovered by a 14-year-old but also because the skeleton is almost entirely complete. The skeleton is juvenile and some people suspect it is just a young Saurornitholestes, or similar dinosaur.

There is also some disagreement as to whether Bambiraptor was named after Bambi the deer, or just because it was a young, juvenile animal.

Answer: Scrotum

A dinosaur bone fragment discovered in England in 1676 became the first dinosaur bone to be illustrated. The bone has since been identified as a Megalosaurus. It's been argued that its original name was Scrotum humanum. A publication from Richard Brookes in 1763 captions it as such due to its appearance as a pair of testicles and the name itself bore strong resemblance to the naming system that Linnaeus had introduced a few years prior.

Alas, Scrotum is considered an obsolete name at best (and admittedly, some think it was never legitimate to begin with) so officially, we did not have any 30 ft carnivorous Scrotums running around in the Jurassic. Then again, considering what else we're naming them...