Outline: a typical early ornithischian
Zephyrosaurus
"west wind lizard"
- Lived
- 113 to 101 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 1.8 m (6 ft)
- Group
- Early ornithischians, Thescelosauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Sues 1980
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical early ornithischian shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
105 million years ago
Field notes
About Zephyrosaurus
What it was like
Zephyrosaurus was a small, two-legged plant eater about 1.8 meters (6 feet) long. It is known from part of a skull and a few other bones. It was a close relative of Orodromeus and Oryctodromeus, and like the latter it may have dug burrows.
Its world
It lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now Montana. Its bones come from the Cloverly Formation, where it shared the land with the raptor Deinonychus, the plant eater Tenontosaurus and the armored Sauropelta.
How it was found
Sues named Zephyrosaurus in 1980 from one find.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Thescelosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: H.-D. Sues. 1980. Anatomy and relationships of a new hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of North America. Palaeontographica Abteilung A 169(1-3):51-72