Elrhazosaurus

Elrhazosaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, approximately 115 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Femur of Elrhazosaurus nigeriensis.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Suborder:	†Ornithopoda
Family:	†Dryosauridae
Genus:	†Elrhazosaurus Galton, 2009
Species:	†E. nigeriensis
Binomial name
Elrhazosaurus nigeriensis (Galton and Taquet, 1982 [originally Valdosaurus nigeriensis])

Elrhazosaurus is a genus of basal iguanodontian dinosaur, known from isolated bones found in Lower Cretaceous rocks of Niger. These bones were initially thought to belong to a species of the related dryosaurid Valdosaurus, but have since been reclassified.

Elrhazosaurus is based on MNHN GDF 332, a left thigh bone collected by Philippe Taquet from the upper part of the Elrhaz Formation of Gadoufaoua in the Ténéré Desert, Agadez, Niger. This rock unit dates to the late Aptian stage, approximately 115 million years ago. The bone was designated as the type specimen of a new species of Valdosaurus (V. nigeriensis) by Peter Galton and Taquet in 1982. It was differentiated from the type species V. canaliculatus by the locations of trochanters and other details. Because V. canaliculatus is known from Europe, the presence of a related species in central Africa was interpreted as evidence for a land connection between the two continents.

V. nigeriensis was given its own genus, Elrhazosaurus, by Galton in 2009. This was done on the grounds of differing morphology and geologic age versus V. canaliculatus. He retained it as a dryosaurid. While Elrhazosaurus is sometimes described as only known from thigh bones, at least one upper arm bone has been assigned to the genus.