From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
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.
[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
An 19th century rendering of
Scelidosaurus
near-complete skeleton from the
Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre
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
[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.
- Liddell & Scott (1980). Greek-English Lexicon, Abridged Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-19-910207-4.
[edit] External links
