Hypsilophodon

high-ridged tooth

• Hypsilophos · Greek · high-crested, high-ridged
• odon · Greek · tooth

The name combines Greek words meaning "high ridge" and "tooth". It refers to the ridged cheek teeth. Huxley named it in 1869 after noticing that its teeth resembled those of the iguana-like lizard Iguanodon, but with prominent ridges. The name was originally linked to a fossil that had been mistaken for a young Iguanodon.

Named by

Huxley

Year named

1869

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stage

Barremian

Found in

Wessex Formation, Isle of Wight, England, UK

A small, bipedal ornithopod. Fossils were first thought to be a juvenile Iguanodon before Huxley recognised them as a distinct genus. The type species is Hypsilophodon foxii. The Greek roots in the etymology are a simplified reading of "hypsilophos" (high-crested).