Hypsirhophus

The first described fossils of Hypsirhophus discurus were unearthed by schoolteacher Oramel William Lucas who working for Edward Drinker Cope at Cope's Quarry 3 near "Cope's Nipple" at Garden Park, a fossil site 3.8 miles northeast of Canon City, Colorado, and came from the Tithonian strata of the Upper Jurassic. The generic name of Hypsirhophus means "high roof" after the tall anatomy of the dorsal vertebrae, while the specific name hasn't been translated. Some later researchers have considered it 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. == Description ==

Due to the fragmentary nature of the type specimen, lack of description, and the single known specimen, little is known from Hypsirhophus. Kenneth Carpenter noted that it could be diagnosed by: Circular fossa between postzygapophyses in Hypsirhophus versus vertical grooves in Stegosaurus, a median ridge extending from base of postzygapophyses to neural canal versus no ridge [a groove in Stegosaurus ungulatus (as S. stenops)], and in cross-section of pedicel, the anterior surface is convex versus being concave in Stegosaurus. The dorsal vertebrae are very tall, at 47 centimeters tall despite being incomplete and some of the largest dorsals known. ==References==