This list of dinosaurs is a comprehensive listing of all genera that have ever been considered to be non-avian dinosaurs, but also includes some dinosaurs of disputed status (avian? or non-avian?, where "avian" refers to the clade Avialae), as well as purely vernacular terms.
The list includes all commonly accepted genera, but also genera that are now considered invalid, doubtful (nomen dubium), or were not formally published (nomen nudum), as well as junior synonyms and genera that are no longer considered dinosaurs. Many listed names have been reclassified as everything from true birds to crocodilians to petrified wood. The list contains 1764 names, of which approximately 1328 are considered either valid dinosaur genera or nomina dubia.
Scope and terminology
There is no official, canonical list of all non-avian dinosaur genera. The closest is the Dinosaur Genera List, compiled by biological nomenclature expert George Olshevsky, which was first published online in 1995 and was regularly updated until June 2021.[1][2] The most authoritative general source in the field is the second (2004) edition of The Dinosauria. The vast majority of names listed below are sourced to Olshevsky's list, and all subjective determinations (such as junior synonymy or non-dinosaurian status) are based on The Dinosauria, except where they conflict with primary literature. These exceptions are noted.
Junior synonym: A name which describes the same taxon as a previously published name. If two or more genera are formally designated and the type specimens are later assigned to the same genus, the first to be published (in chronological order) is the senior synonym, and all other instances are junior synonyms. Senior synonyms are generally used, except by special decision of the ICZN (see Tyrannosaurus), but junior synonyms cannot be used again for a different genus, even if deprecated. Junior synonymy is often subjective, unless the genera described were both based on the same type specimen.
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 ICZN. Nomina nuda (the plural form) are invalid, and are therefore not italicized as a proper generic name would be. If the name is later formally published, that name is no longer a nomen nudum and will be italicized on this list. Often, the formally published name will differ from any nomina nuda that describe the same specimen.
Nomen oblitum (Latin for "forgotten name"): A name that has not been used in the scientific community for more than fifty years after its original proposal.
Nomen manuscriptum (Latin for "manuscript name"): A name that appears in manuscript of a formal publication that has no scientific backing.
Preoccupied name: A name that is formally published, but which has already been used for another taxon. This second use is invalid (as are all subsequent uses) and the name must be replaced. Preoccupied names are not valid generic names.
Nomen dubium (Latin for "dubious name"): A name describing a fossil with no unique diagnostic features. As this can be an extremely subjective and controversial designation (see Hadrosaurus), no genera should be marked as such on this list.
Most uncited genus names are taken from Olshevsky's "Dinosaur Genera List".[1] Non-dinosaur dinosauromorphs and non-avebrevicaudan avialans are also listed by Olshevsky, but are omitted from this list as they are not considered "non-avian dinosaurs" in most published sources.
^Lerzo, Lucas N.; Fernández-Baldor, Fidel Torcida; Canale, Juan I.; Whitlock, John A.; Otero, Alejandro; Gallina, Pablo A. (2024-08-13). "They all floated in the Cretaceous: new rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) with a highly pneumatized skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Cenomanian) of Patagonia, Argentina". Historical Biology: 1–14. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2383708. ISSN0891-2963.
^Nogueira, Rodrigo Alvarez; Rozadilla, Sebastián; Agnolín, Federico L.; Garcia Marsà, Jordi A.; Motta, Matias J.; Novas, Fernando E. (2024-03-11). "A new ornithopod from the Upper Cretaceous (Huincul Formation) of Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. Implications on elasmarian postcranial anatomy". Cretaceous Research. 159 (In press): 105874. Bibcode:2024CrRes.15905874N. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105874.
^Averianov AO, Sues HD (2022). "New material and diagnosis of a new taxon of alvarezsaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (5): e2036174. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.2036174. S2CID247391327.
^Baiano MA, Pol D, Bellardini F, Windholz GJ, Cerda IA, Garrido AC, Coria RA (2022). "Elemgasem nubilus: a new brachyrostran abelisaurid (Theropoda, Ceratosauria) from the Portezuelo Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Patagonia, Argentina". Papers in Palaeontology. 8 (5): e1462. Bibcode:2022PPal....8E1462B. doi:10.1002/spp2.1462. S2CID252097368.
^Ishikawa, H.; Tsuihiji, T.; Manabe, M. (2023). "Furcatoceratops elucidans, a new centrosaurine (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) from the upper Campanian Judith River Formation, Montana, USA". Cretaceous Research. 151. 105660. Bibcode:2023CrRes.15105660I. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105660. S2CID260046917.
^Mocho, Pedro; Escaso, Fernando; Gasulla, José M; Galobart, Àngel; Poza, Begoña; Santos-Cubedo, Andrés; Sanz, José L; Ortega, Francisco (2023-09-28). "New sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Morella (Spain) provides new insights on the evolutionary history of Iberian somphospondylan titanosauriforms". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 201: 214–268. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad124. ISSN0024-4082.
^Ryan, M.J.; Micucci, L.; Rizo, H.; Sullivan, C.; Lee, Y.-N.; Evans, D.C. (2023). "New Late Cretaceous leptoceratopsid (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) from the Oldman Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada". In Lee, Y.-N. (ed.). Windows into Sauropsid and Synapsid Evolution: Essays in Honor of Prof. Louis L. Jacobs. Seoul: Dinosaur Science Center Press. pp. 151–165. ISBN 978-89-5708-358-1.
^Agnolín FL, Cerroni MA, Scanferla A, Goswami A, Paulina-Carabajal A, Halliday T, Cuff AR, Reuil S (2022). "First definitive abelisaurid theropod from the Late Cretaceous of Northwestern Argentina". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (4): e2002348. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.2002348. S2CID246766133.
^Rotatori, F. M.; Ferrari, L.; Sequero, C.; Camilo, B.; Mateus, O.; Moreno-Azanza, M. (2024). "An unexpected early-diverging iguanodontian dinosaur (Ornithischia, Ornithopoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e2310066. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2310066.
^Filippi, Leonardo S.; Juárez Valieri, Rubén D.; Gallina, Pablo A.; Méndez, Ariel H.; Gianechini, Federico A.; Garrido, Alberto C. (2023). "A rebbachisaurid-mimicking titanosaur and evidence of a Late Cretaceous faunal disturbance event in South-West Gondwana". Cretaceous Research. 154. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105754. ISSN0195-6671.
^Forster CA, de Klerk WJ, Poole KE, Chinsamy-Turan A, Roberts EM, Ross CF (2022). "Iyuku raathi, a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation, South Africa". The Anatomical Record. 306 (7): 1762–1803. doi:10.1002/ar.25038. PMID35860957. S2CID250730794.
^Ren, X.-X.; Wang, X.-R.; Ji, Y.-N.; Guo, Z.; Ji, Q. (2024). "The first mamenchisaurid from the Upper Jurassic Dongxing Formation of Guangxi, southernmost China". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology: 1–14. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2309287.
^Averianov AO, Lopatin AV (2022). "The second taxon of alvarezsaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous Khulsan locality in Gobi Desert, Mongolia". Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology. 34 (11): 2125–2136. Bibcode:2022HBio...34.2125A. doi:10.1080/08912963.2021.2000976. S2CID244421277.
^Averianov, A. O.; Skutschas, P. P.; Atuchin, A. A.; Slobodin, D. A.; Feofanova, O. A.; Vladimirova, O. N. (2024). "The last ceratosaur of Asia: a new noasaurid from the Early Cretaceous Great Siberian Refugium". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 291 (2023). 20240537. doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.0537.
^Iori, F.V.; de Araújo-Júnior, H.I.; Simionato Tavares, S.A.; da Silva Marinho, T.; Martinelli, A.G. (2021). "New theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Brazil improves abelisaurid diversity". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 112: 103551. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11203551I. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103551. ISSN0895-9811. S2CID239682640.
^Prieto-Márquez A, Wagner JR (2022). "A new 'duck-billed' dinosaur (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae) from the upper Campanian of Texas points to a greater diversity of early hadrosaurid offshoots". Cretaceous Research. 143. 105416. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105416. S2CID253470207.
^Griffin, Christopher T.; Wynd, Brenen M.; Munyikwa, Darlington; Broderick, Tim J.; Zondo, Michel; Tolan, Stephen; Langer, Max C.; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Taruvinga, Hazel R. (2022-08-31). "Africa's oldest dinosaurs reveal early suppression of dinosaur distribution". Nature. 609 (7926): 313–319. Bibcode:2022Natur.609..313G. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05133-x. ISSN0028-0836. PMID36045297. S2CID251977824.
^Rolando MA, Garcia Marsà JA, Agnolín FL, Motta MJ, Rodazilla S, Novas FE (2022). "The sauropod record of Salitral Ojo del Agua: An Upper Cretaceous (Allen Formation) fossiliferous locality from northern Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 129: 105029. Bibcode:2022CrRes.12905029R. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105029. ISSN0195-6671. S2CID240577726.
^Ji S, Zhang P (2022). "First new genus and species of basal iguanodontian dinosaur (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) from southern China". Acta Geoscientica Sinica. 43 (1): 1–10. doi:10.3975/cagsb.2021.090701.
^Horner, J. R.; Goodwin, M. B.; Evans, D. C. (2023). "A new pachycephalosaurid from the Hell Creek Formation, Garfield County, Montana, U.S.A.". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (4). e2190369. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2190369. S2CID258154892.
^Lerzo, Lucas Nicolás; Gallina, Pablo Ariel; Canale, Juan Ignacio; Otero, Alejandro; Carballido, José Luis; Apesteguía, Sebastián; Makovicky, Peter Juraj (2024-01-03). "The last of the oldies: a basal rebbachisaurid (Sauropoda, Diplodocoidea) from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) of Patagonia, Argentina". Historical Biology: 1–26. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2297914. ISSN0891-2963.
^Dalman, S.G.; Lucas, S.G.; Jasinski, S.E.; Longrich, N.R. (2022). "Sierraceratops turneri, a new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Hall Lake Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of south-central New Mexico". Cretaceous Research. 130: Article 105034. Bibcode:2022CrRes.13005034D. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105034. S2CID244210664.
^Pereira, P. V. L. G. C.; Bandeira, K. L. N.; Vidal, L. S.; Ribeiro, T. B.; Candeiro, C. R. A.; Bergqvist, L. P. (2024). "A new sauropod species from north-western Brazil: biomechanics and the radiation of Titanosauria (Sauropoda: Somphospondyli)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae054.
^Soto, M.; Carballido, J. L.; Langer, M. C.; Silva Junior, J. C. G.; Montenegro, F.; Perea, D. (2024). "Phylogenetic relationships of a new titanosaur (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Uruguay". Cretaceous Research. 160. 105894. Bibcode:2024CrRes.16005894S. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105894.
^Jia, Lei; Li, Ning; Dong, Liyang; Shi, Jianru; Kang, Zhishuai; Wang, Suozhu; Xu, Shichao; You, Hailu (2024-01-31). "A new stegosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Zuoyun, Shanxi Province, China". Historical Biology: 1–10. doi:10.1080/08912963.2024.2308214. ISSN0891-2963.