Zephyrosaurus
Sign in to saveZephyrosaurus (meaning "westward wind lizard") is a genus of orodromine ornithischian dinosaur based on a partial skull and postcranial fragments discovered in the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) Cloverly Formation of Carbon County, Montana, USA. New remains are under description, and tracks from Maryland and Virginia, also in the US, have been attributed to animals similar to Zephyrosaurus.
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6 sectionsContents
- Discovery and history
- Description
- Classification
- Paleobiology
- References
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Zephyrosaurus (meaning "westward wind lizard") is a genus of orodromine ornithischian dinosaur based on a partial skull and postcranial fragments discovered in the Early Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) Cloverly Formation of Carbon County, Montana, USA. New remains are under description, and tracks from Maryland and Virginia, also in the US, have been attributed to animals similar to Zephyrosaurus.
==Discovery and history== thumb|left|Fragmentary juvenile specimen of Z. schaffi from the Cloverly Formation Hans-Dieter Sues named his new genus in recognition of the fossil being found in western North America, and Charles R. Schaff, who found the specimen. MCZ 4392, the type specimen, is composed of jaw fragments, the braincase and associated bones, several partial vertebrae, and rib fragments. He found the new genus to represent a previously unknown lineage of hypsilophodont (a taxon now considered not natural), similar in some respects to Hypsilophodon.