Alamotyrannus of "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) 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. 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 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.
Angeac ornithomimosaur The "Angeac ornithomimosaur" is an informal name given to an unnamed theropod taxon known from the Early Cretaceous (
Berriasian age)
Angeac-Charente bonebed (part of the stratigraphy of the
Aquitaine Basin) near
Angeac-Charente in western France. The taxon is toothless and is known from numerous disarticulated remains representing at least 70 individuals covering almost all of the skeleton. While it was originally regarded as an
ornithomimosaur, Cau and Paterna (2025) suggested
ceratosaurian affinities instead, closely allied with
Bahariasaurus,
Berthasaura,
Ligabueino, and
Limusaurus.
Angloposeidon ) of "Angloposeidon" "Angloposeidon" is the informal name given to a
sauropod dinosaur from the Early
Cretaceous (
Barremian)
Wessex Formation of the
Isle of Wight in southern England. It was a possible
brachiosaurid but has not been formally named.
Darren Naish, a notable vertebrate palaeontologist, has worked with the specimen and has recommended that this name only be used informally and that it not be published. However, he published it himself in his book
Tetrapod Zoology Book One from 2010. The remains consist of a single cervical
vertebra (MIWG.7306), which indicate it was a very large animal, 20 metres or greater in length.
Angustungui "Angustungui" is an informal genus of
stegosaur from the
Late Jurassic Qigu Formation in
China. The intended
type species is "A. qiketaiensis" and the holotype is specimen SS V16001 consisting of axial, pectoral girdle, pelvic girdle, limb and armor elements, while the
paratype is specimen SS V16002, consisting of a right coracoid and a right scapula. Both specimens were discovered in 2016 by Li Daqing at
Qiketai,
Shanshan County, and the name was first announced in a
bioRxiv pre-print article in October 2024, where it was recovered as sister taxon of
Loricatosaurus.
Archaeoraptor "Archaeoraptor" is the informal
generic name for a
fossil from China, initially hailed as an important
transitional fossil, that was later discovered to have been fabricated from multiple unrelated fossils. The name was created in an article published in
National Geographic magazine in 1999, where the magazine claimed that the fossil was a "
missing link" between birds and terrestrial
theropod dinosaurs. Even prior to this publication there had been severe doubts about the fossil's authenticity. Further scientific study showed it to be a forgery constructed from rearranged pieces of real fossils from different species. Zhou et al. found that the head and upper body actually belong to a specimen of the primitive fossil bird
Yanornis, and another 2002 study found that the tail belongs to a small winged
dromaeosaur,
Microraptor, named in 2000. The legs and feet belong to an as yet unknown animal.
Archbishop "The Archbishop" is a giant
brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur similar to
Brachiosaurus and
Giraffatitan. It was long considered a specimen of
Brachiosaurus (now
Giraffatitan)
brancai due to being found in the same formation in
Tendaguru, Tanzania. However, the "Archbishop" shows significant differences including a unique vertebral morphology and a proportionally longer neck, that indicates it is a different, previously unknown genus and species. It was discovered by Frederick Migeod in 1930. "The Archbishop" is a nickname that functions as a placeholder – the specimen currently has no scientific name. The specimen is currently housed in the Natural History Museum in London, and will eventually be re-described by Dr.
Michael P. Taylor of
Bristol University. In May 2018, Taylor started to work on describing the Archbishop.
Atlantohadros "Atlantohadros", more commonly known as the "Merchantville hadrosaur", is an informally named hadosaurid dinosaur that lived in the
Merchantville Formation in the northeastern United States. Brownstein (2021) found "Atlantohadros" to be more derived than
Tethyshadros but less derived than
Saurolophinae and
Lambeosaurinae. The name was intended to be used in that publication, but was cut for unknown reasons; initial versions of Brownstein (2021) contained the word "Atlantohadros" superimposed over "Merchantville Taxon" in a cladogram; subsequent corrections have erased the genus name entirely. Three specimens were discovered northwest of
Freehold near Manalapan–Marlboro township line in
Monmouth County during the 1970s. These are: YPM VPPU.021813, YPM VPPU.021813, and AMNH 13704, with YPM VPPU.021813 possibly belonging to the same individual as YPM VPPU.021813 due similar weathering, size and the same horizon. These specimens consist of both coracoids, both scapulae, a femur, a fragmentary proximal tibia, and a dentary from a cast of the specimen (the original likely lost in YPM's catalogue) in the adult specimen, as well as a rib, a femur and long bone portions in the juvenile. AMNH 13704, id a partial dentary of a probable perinate. Scattered bones associated with these include a quadrate, several partial maxilla portions, a partial jugal, skull roof fragments and several rib fragments. ==B==