Pronunciation: AHM-to-SOR-us
Meaning: Amtgai lizard
Author/s: Kurzanov and Tumanova (1978)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Ömnögovi, Mongolia
Discovery Chart Position: #260
Amtosaurus magnus
Amtosaurus is known only from a lump of braincase from southern Mongolia that was initially thought to be from an ankylosaurid, then a duck-billed hadrosaurid, but Jolyon Parish and Paul Barrett reckon its remains are too meagre to classify as anything more than an indeterminate ornithischian. Funnily enough, better fossils from Uzbekistan were assigned here as a second species — Amtosaurus archibaldi — by Averianov in 2002 and they turned out to be the property of a valid ankylosaur. Unfortunately, it wasn't Amtosaurus, and Parish and Barrett renamed it Bissektipelta in 2004.
(Great Amtgai Lizard)
Etymology
Amtosaurus is derived from "Amtgai" (the site where it was discovered) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet, magnus, means "Great" in Latin.
Discovery
The remains of Amtosaurus were discovered at the Amtgay locality ("Amtgai Khuduk") in the Bayanshiree Formation, Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia.
The holotype (PIN 3780/2) is a partial braincase.
