{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Early Cretaceous, <br>~{{Fossil range|113}} | image = Zephyrosaurus in Berlin.jpg | image_caption = Mounted skeleton, Natural History Museum of Berlin | taxon = Zephyrosaurus | authority = Sues, 1980 | type_species_authority = Sues, 1980 | type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Zephyrosaurus schaffi''''' }}
'''''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== [[File:Zephyrosaurus juvenile specimen.png|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''.<ref name=HDS80/>
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 a 2003 abstract, 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.<ref name=MMK03>{{cite journal |last=Kutter |first=M.M. |year=2003 |title=New material of ''Zephyrosaurus schaffi'' (Dinosauria:Ornithischia) from the Cloverly Formation (Aptian-Albian) of Montana |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=23 |issue=3, Suppl |pages=69A| doi =10.1080/02724634.2003.10010538 |s2cid=220410105 }}</ref>
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.<ref name=SWL04>{{cite journal |last=Stanford |first=R. |author2=Weems, R. |author3= Lockley, M. |year=2004 |title=A new dinosaur ichnotaxon from the Lower Cretaceous Patuxent Formation of Maryland and Virginia |journal=Ichnos |volume=11 |issue=3–4 |pages=251–259 |doi=10.1080/10420940490428797|bibcode=2004Ichno..11..251S }}</ref>
==Description== ''Zephyrosaurus'' is still very incompletely known. Among other distinctive characteristics, 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 orodromines, it had beak teeth.<ref name=HDS80>{{cite journal |last=Sues |first=Hans-Dieter |year=1980 |title=Anatomy and relationships of a new hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of North America |journal=Palaeontographica Abteilung A |volume=169 |issue=1–3 |pages=51–72}}</ref>
==Classification== Several studies have suggested that ''Zephyrosaurus'' and ''Orodromeus'' are closely related, mostly by virtue of both having bosses on their cheeks.<ref name=WH92>{{cite journal |last=Weishampel |first=David B. |author-link=David B. Weishampel |author2=Heinrich, Ronald E. |year=1992 |title=Systematics of Hypsilophodontidae and Basal Iguanodontia (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) |journal=Historical Biology |volume=6 |pages=159–184 |url=http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/ghbi_06_01_01.pdf |access-date=2007-03-10 |doi=10.1080/10292389209380426 |issue=3 |bibcode=1992HBio....6..159W |archive-date=2007-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930205953/http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/ghbi_06_01_01.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=PB02>{{cite book |last=Buchholz |first=Peter W. |title=The Mesozoic in Wyoming, Tate 2002 |year=2002 |publisher=The Geological Museum, Casper College |location=Casper, Wyoming |pages=18–34 |chapter=Phylogeny and biogeography of basal Ornithischia}}</ref> Other studies have had difficulty classifying it, due to the sparseness of the original material.<ref name=NSWC04>{{cite book |last=Norman |first=David B. |author-link=David B. Norman |author2=Sues, Hans-Dieter |author3=Witmer, Larry M. |author4= Coria, Rodolfo A. |editor=Weishampel, David B. |editor2=Dodson, Peter |editor3=Osmólska, Halszka |title=The Dinosauria |url=https://archive.org/details/dinosauriandedit00weis |url-access=limited |edition=2nd |year= 2004|publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-520-24209-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dinosauriandedit00weis/page/n411 393]–412 |chapter=Basal Ornithopoda}}</ref> ''Oryctodromeus'' also shares several characteristics with ''Zephyrosaurus'' and ''Orodromeus'', some of which may be related to burrowing. Phylogenetic analysis in the 2010s has classified ''Zephyrosaurus '' as part of the Thescelosauridae family.
==Paleobiology==
[[File:Deinonychus (Raptor Prey Restraint).jpg|thumb|right|Restoration of ''Zephyrosaurus'' being attacked by a ''Deinonychus'']] ''Zephyrosaurus'' would have been a small, swift, bipedal herbivore.<ref name=NSWC04/> Like ''Orodromeus'' and ''Oryctodromeus'', it may have burrowed as well.<ref name=VMK07>{{cite journal |last=Varricchio |first=David J. |author2=Martin, Anthony J. |author3= Katsura, Yoshihiro |year=2007 |title=First trace and body fossil evidence of a burrowing, denning dinosaur |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=274 |pages=1361–1368 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2006.0443 |url= |pmid=17374596 |issue=1616 |pmc=2176205 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Dinosaurs}} *[http://dml.cmnh.org/2005Jan/msg00095.html Press release] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219004323/http://dml.cmnh.org/2005Jan/msg00095.html |date=2007-02-19 }} for ''Hypsiloichnus marylandicus''. *[http://dml.cmnh.org/1999Sep/msg00072.html Dinosaur Mailing List discussion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118023036/http://dml.cmnh.org/1999Sep/msg00072.html |date=2011-11-18 }} on what would become ''Hypsiloichnus marylandicus''. *[http://www.paleoportal.org/index.php?globalnav=fossil_gallery§ionnav=detail&submission_id=1070&taxon_id=&state_id=&period_id=18&assemblage_id=&last_section=search Photograph of a ''Hypsiloichnus marylandicus'' footprint] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184654/http://www.paleoportal.org/index.php?globalnav=fossil_gallery§ionnav=detail&submission_id=1070&taxon_id=&state_id=&period_id=18&assemblage_id=&last_section=search |date=2007-09-27 }}, from [http://www.paleoportal.org/index.php The Paleontology Portal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423075909/http://www.paleoportal.org/index.php |date=2022-04-23 }}. *[http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/dino-directory/detail.dsml?Genus=Zephyrosaurus&showTaxonomy=yes&identifier=zephyro&&beginIndex=§ion=home ''Zephyrosaurus''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925130705/http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/dino-directory//detail.dsml?Genus=Zephyrosaurus |date=2006-09-25 }} in The Natural History Museum's Dino Directory.
{{Ornithischia|O.}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q187013}}
Category:Thescelosauridae Category:Dinosaur genera Category:Aptian dinosaurs Category:Albian dinosaurs Category:Cloverly Formation Category:Dinosaurs of the United States Category:Fossil taxa described in 1980 Category:Taxa named by Hans-Dieter Sues