Zephyrosaurus
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| Zephyrosaurus schaffi Sues, 1980 |
Zephyrosaurus (meaning "westward wind lizard") was a genus of hypsilophodont ornithopod dinosaur. It is based on a partial skull and poscranial fragments discovered in the Aptian-Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of Carbon County, Montana. New remains are under description, and footprints from Maryland have been attributed to something like it.
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[edit] History
Hans-Dieter Sues named his new genus in recognition of the fossil being found in western North America, and C. 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. Among other distinctive characteristics, it has a raised knob on the maxilla and one on the jugal. Some of the bones may have allowed movement within the skull (cranial kinesis) as well. He found the new genus to represent a previously unknown lineage of hypsilophodont, similar in some respects to Hypsilophodon.[1]
Because of the fragmentary nature of the type, and lack of additional remains, Zephyrosaurus had not attracted much attention until recently, when two separate events brought it more recognition. First, Martha Kutter, in an abstract (2003), reported on new remains of this genus under study at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, including the remains of at least seven individuals with bones from all regions of the body.[2]
Then, Stanford et al. (2004) published on dinosaur tracks from the Patuxent Formation of Maryland and Virginia, which they named Hypsiloichnus marylandicus and attributed to an animal akin to Zephyrosaurus based on the proportions of the hands and feet.[3]
[edit] Relationships to other genera
Several studies have suggested that Zephyrosaurus and Orodromeus are closely related, mostly by virtue of both having bosses (described informally as "somewhat like an altoid") on their cheeks.[4][5] Other studies have had difficulty classifying it, due to the sparseness of the original material.[6]
[edit] Paleobiology
Zephyrosaurus would have been a small, swift, bipedal herbivore.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Sues, H.-D. (1980). Anatomy and relationships of a new hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of North America. Palaeontographica Abteilung A Palaeozoologie-Stratigraphie 169(1-3):51-72.
- ^ Kutter, M.M. (2003). New material of Zephyrosaurus schaffi (Dinosauria:Ornithischia) from the Cloverly Formation (Aptian-Albian) of Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23 (Supplement to No. 3), Abstracts of Papers, Sixty-Third Annual Meeting:69A.
- ^ Stanford, R., Weems, R., and Lockley, M. (2004). A new dinosaur ichnotaxon from the Lower Cretaceous Patuxent Formation of Maryland and Virginia. Ichnos 11(3-4):251-259.
- ^ Weishampel, D.B., and Heinrich, R.E. (1992). Systematics of Hypsilophodontidae and basal Iguanodontia (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda). Historical Biology 6:159-184.
- ^ Buchholz, P.W. (2002). Phylogeny and biogeography of basal Ornithischia. In: The Mesozoic in Wyoming, Tate 2002. The Geological Museum, Casper College: Casper, Wyoming, 18-34.
- ^ a b Norman, D.B., Sues, H.-D., Witmer, L.M., and Coria, R.A. (2004). Basal Ornithopoda, in: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., (eds), The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press:Berkeley, 392-412. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
[edit] External links
- Press release for Hypsiloichnus marylandicus.
- Dinosaur Mailing List discussion on what would become Hypsiloichnus marylandicus.
- Photograph of a Hypsiloichnus marylandicus footprint, from The Paleontology Portal.
- Zephyrosaurus in The Natural History Museum's Dino Directory.
