Hesperosaurus mjosi Hesperosaurus
"western"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Hesperosaurus 6.5 m (21.3 ft) long
4 people holding hands
- Length
- 6.5 m (21.3 ft)
- Period
- Late Jurassic (156 Mya)
- Place
- United States · Montana, USA · Wyoming, USA
- Food
- Herbivore
Hesperosaurus (from Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos), meaning “western”, and σαῦρος (saûros), meaning “lizard”) is a herbivorous stegosaurian dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian age of the Jurassic period, approximately 156 million years ago.
Fossils of Hesperosaurus have been found in the state of Wyoming and Montana in the United States of America since 1985. The type species Hesperosaurus mjosi was named in 2001. It is from an older part of the Morrison Formation, and so a little older than other Morrison stegosaurs. Several relatively complete skeletons of Hesperosaurus are known. One specimen preserves the first known impression of the horn sheath of a stegosaurian back plate.
What we know
- Named by Carpenter, Miles & Cloward, 2001.
- Body length estimated at about 6.5 m.
- Fossils found in United States and Montana, USA.