In his 1889 catalogue of fossil reptiles in the Natural History Museum in London, Richard Lydekker mistakenly considered Orosaurus preoccupied by the lizard genus Oreosaurus and coined Orinosaurus capensis for NHMUK R1626.
In his 1889 catalogue of fossil reptiles at the Natural History Museum in London, Richard Lydekker incorrectly identified Orosaurus as a species already existing under the name Oreosaurus, leading him to name Orinosaurus capensis for specimen NHMUK R1626.