Names: 1.

• Every dinosaur has a scientific name, usually made up from Latin or Greek, and written in italics.

• Many dinosaur names end in -saurus, which some say means "reptile" and others say means "lizard"--even though dinosaurs were not lizards.

• Dinosaur names often refer to a feature that no other dinosaur had. Baryonyx, for example, means "heavy claw," from the massive claw on its thumb.

• The medium-sized meat-eater Herrerasaurus from Argentina was named after Victorino Herrera, the farmer who first noticed its fossils.

• Many dinosaur names are real tongue-twisters, such as Opisthocoelicaudia, pronounced "owe-pis-thowe-see-lee-cord-ee-ah."

• Opisthocoelicaudia means "posterior tail cavity," and refers to the joints between the backbones in the tail.

• Some dinosaurs were named after the place where their fossils were found. Minmi was located near Minmi Crossing in Queensland, Australia.

• Some dinosaur groups are named after the first-discovered or major one of its kind, such as the tyrannosaurs or stegosaurs.

• The fast-running ostrich-dinosaurs' name, ornithomimosaurs, means "bird-mimic reptiles."

STAR FACT Triceratops, or "three-horned face," is one of the best-known dinosaur scientific names.

By: Parker, Steve, Dinosaurs