Zephyrosaurus (meaning "westward wind lizard") is a genus of hypsilophodont ornithopod dinosaur. It is based on a partial skull and postcranial fragments discovered in the Aptian-Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of Carbon County, Montana. New remains are under description, and tracks from Maryland and Virginia have been attributed to something like it.
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 hypsilophodonts, it had beak teeth.
Classification[]
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.[2][3] Other studies have had difficulty classifying it, due to the sparseness of the original material.[4] Oryctodromeus also shares several characteristics with Zephyrosaurus and Orodromeus, some of which may be related to burrowing. Thus, there may be a possible clade of burrowing hypsilophodonts from the middle to Late Cretaceous of Montana.