Fabrosaurus


Fabrosaurus ) was a genus of herbivorous dinosaur which lived during the Early Jurassic. It was originally placed within the now obsolete family Fabrosauridae. Fabrosaurus was named by paleontologist Leonard Ginsburg in 1964 based on partial jawbone with three teeth. The type species, Fabrosaurus australis, was named for the location of the fossils in the Elliot Formation, Lesotho, Southern Africa.

Discovery, naming and taxonomy

The holotype, a partial jaw and three teeth, was discovered in Lesotho and was named and described by Leonard Ginsburg in 1964. Subsequent discoveries, now classed under the genus Lesothosaurus, included two crushed skulls and disarticulated post-cranial bones, allowing for a more complete reconstruction. However, as additional ornithischian fossils were discovered, the features of F. australis were thought to be shared by other species, and by the 1990s and 2000s most authors working with the group found Fabrosaurus to be a nomen dubium, finding the holotype material described by Ginsburg to be insufficient to distinguish a new taxon. Some claim the fossils represent simple variation of Lesothosaurus, which is regarded as valid.