Lesothosaurus is a member of the herbivorous clade of dinosaurs, the Ornithischia. It was named by paleontologist Peter M. Galton in 1978, the name meaning "lizard from Lesotho". In zoology, an herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat primarily plant matter (rather than meat). ... Orders Saurischia    Sauropodomorpha    Theropoda Ornithischia Dinosaurs are giant reptiles that dominated the terrestrial ecosystem for most of their 165-million year existence. ... Suborders Thyreophora Cerapoda    Ornithopoda    Marginocephalia Ornithischia is an order of beaked, herbivorous dinosaurs. ... A paleontologist carefully chips rock from a column of dinosaur vertebrae. ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Families Many, see text. ...

Lesothosaurus was originally considered an ornithopod. However, more recent work by Paul Sereno has suggested that it may actually represent one of the primitive of all known ornithischian dinosaurs. The taxonomic history of Lesothosaurus is complex, and it has long been confused with Fabrosaurus, another small ornithischian from the same locality. Clades ?Heterodontosauridae Hypsilophodontia Iguanodontia    Hadrosauridae Ornithopods (or-nith-oh-PODS) are a group of ornithischian dinosaurs who started out as small, cursorial grazers, and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful Cretaceous herbivores in the world, and totally dominated the North American landscape. ...

Lesothosaurus was a small (one meter in length), bipedal plant-eater. It lived in the hot, arid conditions of Lesotho and South Africa during the Early Jurassic. Remains of Lesothosaurus have been collected from the Upper Elliot Formation. metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units. ... A biped is an animal that travels across surfaces supported by two legs. ... The Jurassic period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 200 million years BP at the end of the Triassic to 146 million years BP at the beginning of the Cretaceous. ...