Open Paleo

Hierosaurus

Wieland, 1909 HY-er-oh-SAWR-us Nomen dubium

From Greek 'hieros' meaning 'sacred' and 'sauros' meaning 'lizard', hence 'sacred lizard'.

89.8–83.6 million years ago Coniacian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Hierosaurus is an extinct genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur which lived during the Coniacian to Santonian stages of the Late Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Chalk, in western Kansas, which would have been near the middle of the Western Interior Sea during the Late Cretaceous. It was a nodosaurid, an ankylosaur without a clubbed tail.

Species

Hierosaurus sternbergii Wieland, 1909 Nomen dubium

Type species

Named for Charles Hazelius Sternberg, who collected the fossil material on which the species is based.

Holotype
YPM 1847 , Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Material
At least 34 dermal scutes, plus skull and rib fragments; the phalanges and vertebrae originally described are no longer extant.
Horizon
Smoky Hill Chalk Member, Niobrara Chalk Formation, Coniacian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 89.8–83.6 million years ago
Locality
Five miles south of Castle Rock and three miles south of Hackberry Creek, Kansas, United States

References

  1. Wieland, G. R. (1909). A new armored saurian from the Niobrara. American Journal of Science s4-27(159): 250-252. American Journal of Science (AJS). doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-27.159.250 wieland1909a
  2. Carpenter, K.; Dilkes, D.; Weishampel, D. B. (1995). The Dinosaurs of the Niobrara Chalk Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Kansas). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15(2): 275-297. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/02724634.1995.10011230

    Gives the Hierosaurus sternbergii holotype as YPM 1847 and reassigns "Hierosaurus" coleii to the new genus Niobrarasaurus.

    carpenter1995a