Aerosaurus (meaning "copper lizard") is an extinct genus within Varanopidae, a family of non-mammalian synapsids. It lived during the Early Permian in North America. The name comes from Latin aes (aeris) (combining stem: aer-) “copper” and Greek sauros “lizard,” for El Cobre Canyon (from Spanish cobre “copper”) in northern New Mexico, where the type fossil was found and the site of former copper mines.