Zephyrosaurus

genus of reptiles (fossil)

Zephyrosaurus was a small dinosaur. It was a relative of Hypsilophodon. It lived 132 million years ago, in the western part of what is now North America. It was 6 ft (2 metres) long and 3 ft (1 metre) high.

Zephyrosaurus
Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous
Mounted Deinonychus and Zephyrosaurus skeletons with reconstructed parts, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen.
Scientific classification
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Zephyrosaurus
Binomial name
Zephyrosaurus schaffi
Sues, 1980

The remains are bones from various parts of the body. It had a steep face, a raised knob on the upper jaw, and a larger knob on the cheekbone. Some of the bones may have allowed movement within the skull (cranial kinesis) as well. Like other hypsilophodonts, it had beak teeth.[1][2]

References

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  1. Weishampel, David B. and Heinrich, Ronald E. 1992. Systematics of Hypsilophodontidae and Basal Iguanodontia (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda). Historical Biology 6 (3): 159–184. [1]
  2. Norman, David B. et al 2004. Basal Ornithopoda. In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds) The Dinosauria. 2nd ed, Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 393–412. ISBN 0-520-24209-2