Zephyrosaurus

west wind lizard

• Zephyros · Greek · the west wind (Zephyrus, god of the west wind)
• sauros · Greek · lizard

The name combines the Greek "zephyros" (the west wind, personified as the god Zephyrus) with "sauros" (lizard), giving "west wind lizard". It was given to a small, lightly built plant-eating dinosaur from the western United States. The type species is Zephyrosaurus schaffi.

Named by

Sues

Year named

1980

Period

Early Cretaceous

Stages

Aptian – Albian

Found in

Cloverly Formation, Montana, USA

A small bipedal ornithischian, usually classed as a basal neornithischian (hypsilophodont-grade, often placed among the orodromine thescelosaurids). It is known from limited material, mainly skull and jaw fragments. The exact stage range and the reason for the name are given with moderate confidence.