Hypsirhophus (meaning "high roof"; often misspelled "Hypsirophus") is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaurs. It contains a single species, Hypsirhophus discurus, which is known only from a fragmentary specimen. The fossil consists of partial vertebrae from the back, three from the tail, and a piece of rib.
The specimen was excavated from Edward Drinker Cope's Quarry 3 near the "Cope's Nipple" site in Garden Park, Colorado, near the very top of the late Jurassic Morrison Formation. In 1878, Cope named the specimen Hypsirhophus discurus. Some later researchers have considered Hypsirhophus to be a synonym of Stegosaurus, or a nomen dubium, though Kenneth Carpenter and Peter Galton have suggested that it is distinct and valid based on differences in the vertebrae.
Gallery[]
