Dino card No. 0843 of 2,015

Hypsirophus

Say it: hip-SIR-oh-fuss

Name means: “high roof”1

Ate: PlantsPlated dinosLate Jurassic to Late Cretaceous

Hypsirophus was a plated dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic period. It had tall back bones that gave it its name, and it munched on plants with its tiny teeth.1 2

Lived

162 to 94 million years ago3

Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Colorado, USA1 3

Food

Plants2

Artist's life restoration of Hypsirophus — How Hypsirophus may have looked, by Carl C. Dahlgren (1841-1920). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Hypsirophus is known only from a few back bones, tail bones, and a rib fragment. That makes it one of the most incomplete stegosaurs.1

The name Hypsirophus means 'high roof' because the bones in its back were very tall.1

It was discovered during the 'Bone Wars', a fierce fossil-hunting rivalry between two scientists, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh.1

Cope, who named Hypsirophus, first thought it was a meat-eating dinosaur like Allosaurus. Later scientists realized it was a plant-eating stegosaur.1

Some scientists think Hypsirophus might be a valid dinosaur, while others consider it a nomen dubium (a doubtful name).1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Hypsirophus
Named by: Cope 18783
Group: Plated dinos
Family / clade: Stegosauridae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 162 to 94 million years (Oxfordian to Cenomanian)3
Rock formations: Morrison3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 86 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Hypsirophus was named by Edward Drinker Cope in 1878. The fossils were found by schoolteacher Oramel William Lucas at a site called Cope's Quarry 3 near Canon City, Colorado.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Hypsirophus is a valid genus or just a synonym of Stegosaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Hypsirophus (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Hypsirophus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.