Thespesius facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Thespesius Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 66Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
The syntype fossils
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Suborder:	†Ornithopoda
Family:	†Hadrosauridae
Subfamily:	†Saurolophinae
Genus:	†Thespesius Leidy, 1856
Species:	†T. occidentalis
Binomial name
†Thespesius occidentalis Leidy, 1856
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Synonyms
Agathaumas milo Cope, 1874

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Thespesius (pronounced The-SPEE-see-us) was a type of dinosaur called a hadrosaur. It lived a very long time ago, during the Late Cretaceous period. A scientist named Joseph Leidy first described it in 1876.

Discovering Thespesius: A Wondrous Dinosaur

Finding the First Bones

The first bones of Thespesius were found in Montana in 1855. Scientists found parts like vertebrae (bones from the spine) and toe bones, also called phalanges. These fossils helped them learn about this ancient animal.

What Does the Name Mean?

The name Thespesius means "wondrous one." Joseph Leidy, the scientist who named it, chose this name carefully. He did not use the common "saurus" ending, which means "lizard." This was because some people thought the bones might be from a mammal, not a dinosaur. This was due to where the bones were found, in a layer of rock from the Miocene epoch. However, Leidy was sure it was a dinosaur, and he was right! The second part of its name, occidentalis, means "western" in Latin. This likely refers to where the bones were found in the western United States.