Hesperosaurus

Hesperosaurus (meaning "western lizard", from Classical Greek ἕσπερος (hesperos) "western" and σαυρος (sauros) "lizard") is a herbivorous stegosaurian dinosaur from the Kimmeridgian age of the Jurassic period, approximately 156 million years ago. Fossils of Hesperosaurus have been found in the state of Wyoming and Montana in the United States of America since 1985. The type species Hesperosaurus mjosi was named in 2001. It is from an older part of the Morrison Formation, and so a little older than other Morrison stegosaurs. Several relatively complete skeletons of Hesperosaurus are known. One specimen preserves the first known impression of the horn sheath of a stegosaurian back plate. Hesperosaurus was a member of the Stegosauridae, quadrupedal plant-eaters protected by vertical bony plates and spikes. It was closely related to Stegosaurus and was similar to it in having two rows of, possibly alternating, plates on its back and four spikes on its tail end. The plates on its back were perhaps not as tall, but were longer. It possibly had a deeper skull than Stegosaurus. In 1985, fossil hunter Patrick McSherry, at the ranch of S.B. Smith in Johnson County, Wyoming, found the remains of a stegosaur. As he had difficulty securing the specimen due to the hard rock matrix, he sought help from Ronald G. Mjos and Jeff Parker of Western Paleontological Laboratories, Inc. They, in turn, cooperated with paleontologist Dee Hall of Brigham Young University. At first, it was assumed it represented an exemplar of Stegosaurus. However, Clifford Miles, while preparing the remains, recognised that they belonged to a species new to science. The type species Hesperosaurus mjosi was named and described in 2001 by Kenneth Carpenter, Clifford Miles, and Karen Cloward. The generic name is derived from the Greek ἕσπερος, hesperos, "western", in reference to its location in the western United States. The specific name honours Mjos who, apart from his involvement in the process of collecting and preparing the holotype, also had a cast of it made, exhibited with the inventory number DMNH 29431 in the Denver Museum of Natural History.