Discovery and Naming
In January 1965 Philippe Taquet discovered dinosaurian fossils at the Camp des deux Arbres site near Gadoufaoua. The material was recovered in 1966. Taquet described the type species Ouranosaurus nigeriensis from the fossils in 1976. The generic name is derived from Tuareg ourane meaning "monitor lizard" — a totem animal to the Tuareg who consider it their ancestral maternal uncle — but itself related to Arab waran, "brave". The specific name refers to Niger.
The holotype specimen MNHN GDF 300, was found in the Upper Elrhaz Formation dating to the late Aptian or early Albian, about 112 to 110 million years old. It consists of an almost complete skeleton with skull, that is today mounted in the Nigerien capital Niamey; the Museum national d'histoire naturelle displays a cast. Other finds include the paratype specimen GDF 381, a second skeleton found in 1972, and the referred specimens GDF 301, a large coracoid, and GDF 302, a femur.
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