Tizocaloa

Tizocaloa cuachichiquile (Crested Tizoc Lizard) is a type of dinosaur from the Iridaceous Phagosian Sea. During this time, the Phagosian Sea was mostly small tropical islands which Tizocaloa likely lived on. This monotypic (One-species) genus was identified from a skull and bone fragments found in the Mimitetl Beds on Tepetl. Tizocaloa is thought to be closely related to other dinosaurs such as Lophophorosaurus and Aspronanos, making it a Hadrosaur.

Common consensus among paleontologists is that the Phagosian Islands, with the exception of a then lower Octolan, were underwater. Tizocaloa was an exclusively land-based genus, however. Makeup of the rocks at the Mimitetl Beds indicate an underwater status during the Iridaceous, and the other fossils found there (Tlahatlsaurus, Thalassosaurus, and Xenodens) contribute to this too. Thus, the currently accepted theory is that the holotype specimen drowned away from home and was carried by ocean currents to where it was buried.

Tizocaloa was named by the HTSAA scientists in honor of Nyk'los Tizoc, who had ascended several years prior. During the description process, it was almost classified as an Aspronanos, although intense study of what few bones each dinosaur had concluded that they were part of different sub-families within Hadrosauridae. It was during this time that the bone fragments, previously thought of as parts of the neck, were actually a shattered crest. Size of the crest is unknown but thought to be quite elaborate.