| Ornithotarsus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Holotype ofOrnithotarsus immanis | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Hadrosauridae |
| Genus: | †Ornithotarsus Cope,1869 |
| Species: | †O. immanis |
| Binomial name | |
| †Ornithotarsus immanis Cope, 1869 | |
Ornithotarsus (lit. 'bird ankle') is agenus ofhadrosauridornithopoddinosaurs that lived inNorth America during theLate CretaceousPeriod in what is now theMerchantville Formation about 84 million to 78 million years ago.
Ornithotarsus immanis was described in 1869 on the basis of YPM 3221, a fragmentary hindlimb comprising a distal tibia and fibula as well as ankle bones unearthed from the Merchantville Formation of Raritan Bay of New Jersey.[1] Although subsequently treated as a synonym ofHadrosaurus, Prieto-Marquez et al. (2006) foundOrnithotarsus to share no diagnostic traits with theH. foulkii holotype and declared it anomen dubium undetermined beyond Hadrosauridae, and Brownstein (2021) agreed with this assessment.[2][3]
