Hypsibema missouriensis

Hypsibema missouriensis
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous,
Assigned vertebra, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
Scientific classification
(Nomen oblitum)
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia
Clade: Ornithopoda
Genus: Hypsibema
Species:
H. missouriensis
Binomial name
Hypsibema missouriensis
(Gilmore, 1945)
Synonyms
  • Neosaurus missouriensis Gilmore & Stewart, 1945
  • Parrosaurus missouriensis Gilmore, 1945

Hypsibema missouriensis (/ˌhɪpsɪˈbmə mɪˌzʊəriˈɛnsɪs/; 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 dinosaur of the U.S. state Missouri. One of the few official state dinosaurs, bones of the species were discovered in 1942, at what later became known as the Chronister Dinosaur Site near Glen Allen, Missouri. The remains of Hypsibema missouriensis at the site, which marked the first known discovery of dinosaur remains in Missouri, are the only ones to have ever been found. Although first thought to be a sauropod, later study determined that it was a hadrosaur, or "duck-billed" dinosaur, whose snouts bear likeness to ducks' bills. Some of the species' bones found at the Chronister Dinosaur Site are housed in Washington, D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution.