PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS
PACHYRHINOSAURUS
PANOPLOSAURUS
PARASAUROLOPHUS
PARKSOSAURUS
PATAGOSAURUS
PAWPAWSAURUS
PENTACERATOPS
PIATNITZKYSAURUS
PINACOSAURUS
PISANOSAURUS
PIVETEAUSAURUS
PLATEOSAURUS
PLEUROCOELUS
POEKILOPLEURON
PRENOCEPHALE
PROBACTROSAURUS
PROCOMPSOGNATHUS
PROSAUROLOPHUS
PROTOCERATOPS
PSITTACOSAURUS
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PISANOSAURUS
Pronunciation: pye-SAN-uh-SAWR-us 
Translation: Pisano's Lizard
Also Known As:
Description: Herbivore, Bipedal
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder:
Family:
Height: 24 inches (0.6 meters)
Length: 36 inches (0.9 meters)
Weight: 8 pounds (3.6 kg)
Period: Late Triassic
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Notes: Pisanosaurus is considered to be the earliest ornithischian
dinosaur. It lived during the Late Triassic period, millions of years
before any other bird-hipped dinosaur appeared. Its presence in
the same formation in Argentina as the primitive theropods
Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor imply that, if dinosaurs share a
common ancestor, the common ancestor occurred earlier than
these specimens, which are the earliest known dinosaurs. Small,
with long, slender feet, Pisanosaurus probably was a good runner.
Scientists think that it belongs to the heterodontosaur family. If it
is a heterodontosaurid, a group also found in Africa, its existence
is further evidence that these continents were still joined together
during the Late Triassic Period.
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PIVETEAUSAURUS
Pronunciation: PEEV-toe-SAWR-us
Translation: Piveteau's Lizard
Also Known As:
Description: Carnivore, Bipedal
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Infraorder: Tetanurae
Micro-order: Carnosauria
Family: Eustreptospondylidae (not confirmed)
Height:
Length: 36 feet (11 meters)
Weight: 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg)
Period: Middle Jurassic
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Notes: Fragmentary remains of Piveteausaurus were found in
Normandy, France, and named in honor of Jean Piveteau, a
French paleontologist.
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PLATEOSAURUS
Pronunciation: PLAY-tee-uh-SAWR-us
Translation: Flat Lizard
Also Known As: Efraasia, Sellosaurus
Description: Herbivore, Quadrupedal
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder: Prosauropoda
Family: Plateosauridae
Height: 10 feet (3 meters)
Length: 26 feet (7.9 meters)
Weight: 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg)
Period: Late Triassic
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Notes: Plateosaurus lived in Europe, South Africa, and Nova
Scotia. It had a small head and a long neck. It was basically
quadrupedal; however, it might have stood on its hind legs
to eat from the tops of trees. It most likely lived in herds.
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PLEUROCOELUS
Pronunciation: ploor-uh-SEE-lus
Translation: Hollow Side
Also Known As: Astrodon
Description: Herbivore, Quadrupedal
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Sauropodomorpha
Infraorder: Sauropoda
Family: Brachiosauridae
Height: 20 feet (6.1 meters)
Length: 29 feet (8.8 meters)
Weight:
Period: Early Cretaceous
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Notes: Pleurocoelus was a four-legged browser with front
limbs longer than its hind limbs. One of the most abundant
dinosaurs of the Early Cretaceous, it had a small, narrow
skull and teeth that were similar to Camarasaurus but thinner.
Its limbs also resembled Camarasaurus, but Pleurocoelus's toes
were more slender than other sauropods. Pleurocoelus tracks
have been identified at the Glen Rose, Texas trackway, as
have those of Acrocanthosaurus.
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POEKILOPLEURON
Pronunciation: POY-ki-loh-PLOOR-on
Translation: Spotted Side
Also known as:
Description: Carnivore, Bipedal
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Infraorder: Ceratosauria
Family: Megalosauridae
Height:
Length: 29.5 feet (9 meters)
Weight:
Period: Middle Jurassic
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Notes: The fragmentary remains of this early giant carnivore were
destroyed in the Second World War. It had short, powerful,
five-fingered hands.
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PRENOCEPHALE
Pronunciation: pren-uh-SEF-uh-lee
Translation: Forward-bent Head, or Sloping Head
Also Known As:
Description: Herbivore, Bipedal
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Marginocephalia
Infraorder: Pachycephalosauria
Family: Pachycephalosauridae
Height: 4 feet (1.2 meters)
Length: 7 feet (2.1 meters)
Weight: Period: Late Cretaceous
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Notes: Found in Mongolia, Prenocephale was related to
Stegoceras.Nodes, or small bony knobs, decorated the back
of its skull. Its front teeth were long and sharp.
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PROBACTROSAURUS
Pronunciation: pro-BAK-truh-SAWR-us
Translation: Before Staff Lizard, or Before Bactrosaurus
Also Known As:
Description: Herbivore, Bipedal
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Ornithopoda
Infraorder: Iguanodontia
Family: Iguanodontidae
Height: 12 feet (3.7 meters)
Length: 19 feet (5.9 meters)
Weight:
Period: Early Cretaceous
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Notes: Found in China and Monglia, Probactrosaurus was
similar to Bactrosaurus, and it may be an ancestor of the
hadrosaurs.
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PROCOMPSOGNATHUS
Pronunciation: pro-komp-sog-NATH-us
Translation: Before Elegant Jaw
Also Known As:
Description: Carnivore, Bipedal
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Infraorder: Ceratosauria (not confirmed)
Family: Segisauridae (not confirmed)
Height: 2.5 foot (0.8 meters)
Length: 4 feet (1.2 meters)
Weight:
Period: Late Triassic
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Notes: Procompsognathus was once thought to be one of
the most primitive known coelurosaurs, resembling
Compsognathus. It had hollow bones, a long flexible neck,
long hind legs, and a long tail. Its hands had four fingers each,
and its feet had three forward-pointing toes and a dew claw.
However, the skull with which its skeleton was crowned did not,
unfortunately, belong to Procompsognathus but to either a
different dinosaur or a crocodilian. With the spurious skull
removed, Procompsognathus' is no longer identified as a
coelurosaur. It is now thought to have been a ceratosaur.
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PROSAUROLOPHUS
Pronunciation: pro-SAWR-OL-uh-fus
Translation: First Crested Lizard, or Before Saurolophus
Also Known As:
Description: Herbivore, Bipedal, Semi-Quadrupedal
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Ornithopoda
Infraorder: Iguanodontia
Family: Hadrosauridae
Height: 14 feet (4.3 meters)
Length: 26 feet (7.9 meters)
Weight:
Period: Late Cretaceous
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Notes: Discovered in Alberta, Canada, Prosaurolophus is the
earliest known flat-crested hadrosaur. It had a miniature crest
that rose like small knobs above its eyes and ended in a short,
backward-pointing spike. Its duck-bill was smaller and shorter,
and less widely flared than that of Anatotitan. It carried its body
horizontally, balanced by a long, crocodile-like tail.
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PROTOCERATOPS
Pronunciation: pro-toe-SAIR-uh-tops
Translation: First Horned Face
Also Known As:
Description: Herbivore, Quadrupedal
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Marginocephalia
Infraorder: Ceratopsia
Micro-order Neoceratopsia
Family: Protoceratopsidae
Height: 2.6 feet (0.8 meters)
Length: 6 feet (1.8 meters)
Weight: 900 pounds (408 kg)
Period: Late Cretaceous
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Notes: Discovered in China and Mongolia, this forerunner of the
horned dinosaurs was the first dinosaur known through every
stage of life. Potato-shaped eggs, found in the 1920's by Roy
Chapman Andrews, were attributed to Protoceratops because
of the great abundance of Protoceratops bones throughout the
same formation. The unusual theropod Oviraptor was discovered
adjacent to a clutch of these eggs and it was presumed that it was
trying to steal and eat the eggs. The recent discovery of an egg,
identical to the eggs attributed to Protoceratops, with an Oviraptor
embryo, indicates that these eggs belonged to Oviraptor. While
these were the first eggs found in Mongolia the first eggs ever
found were discovered in France and described in 1859 as
belonging to the sauropod Hypselosaurus.However, without
an embryo, no egg can be definititely attributed to any animal.
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PSITTACOSAURUS
Pronunciation: SIT-uh-ko-SAWR-us
Translation: Parrot Lizard
Also Known As: Protiguanaodon
Description: Herbivore, Bipedaly
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Marginocephalia
Infraorder: Ceratopsia
Family: Psittacosauridae
Height: 3.5 feet (1.1 meters)
Length: 6.5 feet (2 meters)
Weight:
Period:
Early Cretaceous
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Notes: Found in Mongolia, China, Thailand, and former U.S.S.R.
Psittacosaurus is an ancestor of the ceratopsians. It had parrot-like
jaws and a very slight bony frill. Unlike later ceratopsians,
Psittacosaurus was mainly bipedal, but probably waddled on all
fours when grazing.
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