Genus
Valid Extinct

Scutellosaurus

Colbert 1981
Etymology Reptile à écussons

Scutellosaurus is a genus of basal thyreophoran dinosaur that lived approximately 196 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now Arizona, USA. It is classified in Thyreophora, the armoured dinosaurs; its closest relatives may have been Emausaurus and Scelidosaurus, another armored dinosaur which was mainly a quadrupedal dinosaur, unlike bipedal Scutellosaurus. It is one of the earliest representatives of the armored dinosaurs and the basalmost form discovered to date. Scutellosaurus was a small, lightly-built, ground-dwelling herbivore, that could grow up to an estimated 1.3 metres (4.3 ft) long.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
23
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling, gregarious Terrestrial
Scutellosaurus
click to enlarge
Skeletal mount of the early thyreophoran Scutellosaurus with a full set of osteoderms on display at a temporary exhibit in the Fernbank Museum © A Cynical Idealist · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB ↗ Wikipedia ↗
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
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Ornithischia Unranked clade
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Parapredentata Unranked clade
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Saphornithischia Unranked clade
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Prionodontia Unranked clade
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Genasauria Unranked clade
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Thyreophora Unranked clade
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Scutellosaurus Genus
Measurements
Length
1,2 m ⓘ
Fossil sites 23 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇺🇸 United States
23
Geological formations
Kayenta
23
Temporal distribution
Pliensbachian (192.9–184.2 Ma)
17
Sinemurian (199.5–192.9 Ma)
6
Species (1)
Scutellosaurus lawleri 201 Ma
Images 1
Bibliography
Original description
E. H. Colbert. 1981. A primitive ornithischian dinosaur from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 53:1-61
Bibliography (6)
B. T. Breeden, T. J. Raven, and R. J. Butler, T. B. Rowe, S. C. R. Maidment. 2021. The anatomy and palaeobiology of the early armoured dinosaur Scutellosaurus lawleri (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Kayenta Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Arizona. Royal Society Open Science 8(7):201676:1-43 DOI ↗
M. T. Carrano. 2021. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, Texas Memorial Museum / Texas Science & Natural History Museum
B. T. Breeden and T. B. Rowe. 2020. New specimens of Scutellosaurus lawleri Colbert,1981, from the Lower Jurassic Kayenta Formation in Arizona elucidate the early evolution of thyreophoran dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(4):e1791894:1-32 DOI ↗
K. Padian. 1989. Presence of the dinosaur Scelidosaurus indicates Jurassic age for the Kayenta Formation (Glen Canyon Group, northern Arizona). Geology 17:438-441 DOI ↗
J. M. Clark and D. E. Fastovsky. 1986. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Glen Canyon Group in northern Arizona. The Beginning of the Age of the Dinosaurs: Faunal change across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, N. C. Fraser and H.-D. Sues (eds.), Cambridge University Press
E. H. Colbert. 1981. A primitive ornithischian dinosaur from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 53:1-61