Hypselospinus
Hypselospinus was a big, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now England. It had a long tail and walked on two legs, but could also go on all fours to munch on low plants.1
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Fun facts
Hypselospinus is one of the earliest known styracosternan iguanodontians, a group that later gave rise to the duck-billed hadrosaurs.1
Its fossils were first collected in the 1800s by Samuel Husbands Beckles and Charles Dawson, but were not properly described for over a century.1
The name Hypselospinus means 'high spined', referring to the tall spines on its back vertebrae.4
This dinosaur lived alongside another iguanodontian called Barilium dawsoni in the same area.2
Hypselospinus was originally named Iguanodon fittoni by Richard Lydekker in 1889.1
Its fossils come from rocks that are about 139 to 132 million years old, from the Berriasian to Valanginian stages.4
Most asked questions about Hypselospinus
?How big was Hypselospinus?
Hypselospinus was about 6 metres (19.7 feet) long, which is roughly the length of a small bus. It was lightly built compared to its relative Barilium.3
?What did Hypselospinus eat?
Hypselospinus was a plant-eating dinosaur, so it ate plants. It could walk on two legs or go on all fours to munch on low plants.3
?When did Hypselospinus live?
Hypselospinus lived during the Early Cretaceous, about 140 million years ago, in the Valanginian stage. That's around the same time as its relative Barilium.3
?Where was Hypselospinus found?
Hypselospinus fossils were found in the Wadhurst Clay Formation in East Sussex, England. Some remains from Spain might also belong to it.3
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Hypselospinus
- Named by
- Norman 20104
- Group
- Beaked plant-eaters
- Family / clade
- Neoiguanodontia4
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
- Age of the rocks
- 139 to 133 million years (Berriasian / Valanginian)4
- Rock formations
- Wadhurst Clay, Speeton Clay4
- Countries
- United Kingdom4
- Fossil records
- 9 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Also known as
- Darwinsaurus, Wadhurstia (older names now counted as the same animal)4
- Discovery
- Hypselospinus was named by David B. Norman in 2010, based on fossils that were originally called Iguanodon fittoni by Richard Lydekker in 1889. The bones were collected near Hastings, England, in the late 1800s.41
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate exactly how Hypselospinus is related to other iguanodontians, and some have suggested it might be the same as other dinosaurs like Darwinsaurus.41
Where the facts come from
- On the history, osteology, and systematic position of the Wealden (Hastings group) dinosaur Hypselospinus fittoni (Iguanodontia: Styracosterna) (repository.cam.ac.uk)
- A taxonomy of iguanodontians (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the lower Wealden Group (Cretaceous: Valanginian) of southern England | Zootaxa (biotaxa.org)
- Hypselospinus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Hypselospinus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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