Stegosaurus
PALAEONTOLOGICAL RECORD
Stegosaurus is a genus of herbivorous four-legged armored dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been found in the western United States and in Portugal, where they are found in Kimmeridgian- to Tithonian-aged strata, dating to between 155 and 145 million years ago. Of the species that have been classified in the upper Morrison Formation of the western US, only three are universally recognized: S. stenops, S. ungulatus and S. sulcatus. The remains of over 80 individual animals of this genus have been found. Stegosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and Allosaurus, the latter of which may have preyed on it.
DISCOVERY
Found during the Bone Wars by O.C. Marsh in 1877.
DIETARY PROFILE
Ground-level browser; strictly fed on low mosses and ferns.
NOTABLE PALAEONTOLOGY FACTS
- Its brain was roughly the size of a modern walnut.
- The distinct spiked arrangement on the end of its tail is officially called a 'thagomizer' by paleontologists.
HOLLYWOOD INACCURACIES
- Tail drags on the ground in early films, which is inaccurate. It should point straight back.
