Hesperosaurus

western lizard

• hesperos · Greek · western, of the evening
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name combines the Greek "hesperos" (western) with "sauros" (lizard). It was chosen because Hesperosaurus was found in the western United States and was the first stegosaur known from North America's interior west to be described from such a complete skeleton, in contrast to the other stegosaurs known from Asia and Europe.

Named by

Carpenter, Miles and Cloward

Year named

2001

Period

Late Jurassic

Stage

Kimmeridgian

Found in

Lak Member of the Morrison Formation, Wyoming and Montana, USA

A stegosaurid thyreophoran. The type species is Hesperosaurus mjosi, named after Mjos, who found the type specimen. It is older than Stegosaurus and has a more rounded, plate-shaped set of dorsal plates. Some of the location details and the exact stage are approximate.