Scelidosaurus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iScelidosaurus
Fossil range: Early Jurassic

Scelidosaurus harrisonii model,
Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Ornithischia
Suborder:	Thyreophora
Infraorder:	Ankylosauria
Family:	Scelidosauridae Cope, 1869
Genus:	Scelidosaurus

Binomial name

Scelidosaurus harrisonii
Owen, 1859

Scelidosaurus (meaning 'limb lizard', from Greek skelos/σκελος meaning 'leg' and saurus/σαυρος meaning 'lizard') was a quadrupedal, heavily plated, plant-eating (herbivorous) dinosaur about 4 metres long. It lived during the Early Jurassic Period and its fossils have been found in both England and in Arizona, United States.

1 Classification
2 Discovery and Species
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Classification

Scelidosaurus was an ornithischian and has been classified at different times as an ankylosaur or stegosaur. This debate is still ongoing, although it is now considered by most to be more closely related to ankylosaurids than to stegosaurids and, by extension, a true ankylosaur. Despite its ankylosaur classification, it shared similarities with Stegosaurus, including a heavy body highest at the hips and bony plates down its back.

[edit] Discovery and Species

Image:Scelidosaurus.jpg

Image:Scelidosaurus skeleton.png Scelidosaurus was named by Sir Richard Owen in 1859. While James Harrison of Charmouth, England was quarrying the cliffs of Black Ven (between Charmouth and Lyme Regis (possibly for raw material for the manufacture of cement), in 1858, he found a few fragmentary fossils of limb bones. He sent them to Professor Richard Owen of the Natural History Museum (originally the British Museum (Natural History), London. These, with later finds from the same spot, revealed a near-complete skeleton.

Scelidosaurus Species

S. harrisonii

[edit] References

Carpenter, Kenneth (2001). “Phylogenetic Analysis of Ankylosauria”, Carpenter, Kenneth(ed): The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, 455–480. ISBN 0-253-33964-2.