''Hypsibema'' is a little-known

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...

( Campanian stage, around 75 million

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

s ago). Its giant fossils were found in the U.S. states of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and possibly

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. It is believed to be a

hadrosauroid Hadrosauroidea is a clade or superfamily of ornithischian dinosaurs that includes the "duck-billed" dinosaurs, or hadrosaurids, and all dinosaurs more closely related to them than to ''Iguanodon''. Their remains have been recovered in Asia, Eu ...

, although the Missouri remains were first thought to belong to a small

sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...

("Neosaurus", renamed ''Parrosaurus''). The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

, ''Hypsibema crassicauda'', was described by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested ...

, and was found in

Sampson County, North Carolina Sampson County is the largest county, by land area, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 59,036. Its county seat is Clinton. History Sampson County was established in April 1784 following the American ...

in 1869. The generic name is derived from Greek υψι/''hypsi'', "high", and βεμα/''bema'', "step", as Cope believed that the species walked particularly erect on its toes. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

means "with a fat tail" in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. The syntypic series, USNM 7189, originally consisted of a caudal vertebra, a metatarsal, and two femoral fragments that were originally identified as humeral and tibial fragments, all found in 1869 by North Carolina state

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

professor

Washington Carruthers Kerr Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

in the

Black Creek Group The Black Creek Group is a geologic group in North Carolina. It preserves fossils dating back to the Late Cretaceous period. Paleofauna * cf. '' Deinosuchus rugosus'' * cf. '' Coelosaurus antiquus'' * cf. '' Dryptosaurus sp.'' * cf. '' Lopho ...

of North Carolina. A second vertebra referred to the species, USNM 6136, was later discovered by

Edward Wilber Berry Edward Wilber Berry (February 10, 1875 – September 20, 1945) was an American paleontologist and botanist; the principal focus of his research was paleobotany. Early life Berry was born February 10, 1875, in Newark, New Jersey, and finished h ...

and referred to ''H. crassicauda'' in 1942. In their 1979 review of dinosaur remains from the Black Creek Group, Baird and Horner (1979) noted that the femoral fragments come from a

tyrannosauroid Tyrannosauroidea (meaning 'tyrant lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent b ...

similar to '' Dryptosaurus'', and made the caudal vertebra included in the syntype series of ''H. crassicauda'' the lectotype, while stating that the metatarsal could not belong to the same individual as the caudal. The genus ''

Parrosaurus ''Hypsibema missouriensis'' (; originally ''Neosaurus missouriensis'', first renamed to ''Parrosaurus missouriensis'', also spelled ''Hypsibema missouriense'') is a species of plant-eating dinosaur in the genus ''Hypsibema'', and the state dino ...

'' was considered a species of ''Hypsibema'', '' H. missouriensis by''

Donald Baird Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

and

Jack Horner Jack Horner may refer to: *''Little Jack Horner'', a nursery rhyme People * Jack Horner (baseball) (1863–1910), American professional baseball player *Jack Horner (journalist) (1912–2005), Gordon John Horner, Minnesota sportscaster * Jack B. H ...

in 1979,D. Baird and J. R. Horner, 1979, "Cretaceous dinosaurs of North Carolina", ''Brimleyana'' 2: 1-28 and since 2004 the official

state dinosaur State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our ...

. It was considered dubious in both editions of the ''Dinosauria'', although Chase Brownstein considers ''Parrosaurus'' valid and distinct from ''Hypsibema'' based on new discoveries at the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

site.Brownstein, CD. 2018. The biogeography and ecology of the Cretaceous non-avian dinosaurs of Appalachia. Palaeontologia Electronica 21.1.5A: 1-56.

References

Hadrosaurs Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope Fossils of North Carolina Campanian genus first appearances Campanian genus extinctions Paleontology in Missouri {{ornithopod-stub

See also

References