Hanssuesia

• United States, Canada

Hanssuesia is a genus of bird Beck dinosaur ( Ornithischia ) from the group of Pachycephalosauria. Only species described is H. Sternbergi.

From Hanssuesia only parts of the skull are known so far. The calvarium was thickened as with all Pachycephalosauriern and consisted of the coalesced frontal and parietal bone ( frontoparietal ). This made a broad, dome-shaped structure. Characteristic of these dinosaurs are also an indented parietal bone, a broad projection of the frontal bone, and other features in the construction of the cranial bones. Otherwise, on the physique this Dinosaur unknown.

The fossil remains of Hanssuesia come from the Canadian province of Alberta and the U.S. state of Montana. They are dated to the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian ) at an age of around 76-72 million years.

The finds were in 1943 under the now invalid name Troodon Sternbergi by Brown and Schlaikjer firstdescribed ( Troodon is now regarded as theropod dinosaurs). Later, the validity of the species has been questioned and classified the findings in Stegoceras. Robert Sullivan held in 2003 in a study of Stegoceras remnants of the differences significant enough to include them in a new genus, Hanssuesia to classify. The genus name honors the American paleontologist Hans -Dieter Sues.