Stegosaurus is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur 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.
Thyreophora is a group of armored ornithischian dinosaurs that lived from the Early Jurassic until the end of the Cretaceous.
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the clade Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. They are known to have first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, and persisted until the end of the Cretaceous Period. The two main families of Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae and Ankylosauridae are primarily known from the Northern Hemisphere, but the more basal Parankylosauria are known from southern Gondwana during the Cretaceous.
Kentrosaurus is a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur from the Late Jurassic in Lindi Region of Tanzania. The type species is K. aethiopicus, named and described by German palaeontologist Edwin Hennig in 1915. Often thought to be a "primitive" member of the Stegosauria, several recent cladistic analyses find it as more derived than many other stegosaurs, and a close relative of Stegosaurus from the North American Morrison Formation within the Stegosauridae.
Polacanthus, deriving its name from the Ancient Greek polys-/πολύς- "many" and akantha/ἄκανθα "thorn" or "prickle", is an early armoured, spiked, plant-eating ankylosaurian dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period of England.
Scelidosaurus is a genus of herbivorous armoured ornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of England.
Wuerhosaurus is a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of China and Mongolia. As such, it was one of the last genera of stegosaurians known to have existed.
Lexovisaurus is a genus of stegosaur from mid-to-Late Jurassic Europe, 165.7-164.7 mya. Fossils of limb bones and armor fragments have been found in middle to late Jurassic-aged strata of England and France.
Sarcolestes is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian ornithischian dinosaur from the Oxford Clay of England. The current type and only species is S. leedsi, and the holotype is a single partial left mandible. The genus and species were named in 1893 by Richard Lydekker, who thought they belonged to a theropod.
Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. Their geographical origins are unclear; the earliest unequivocal stegosaurian, Bashanosaurus primitivus, was found in the Bathonian Shaximiao Formation of China.
Dracopelta is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from Portugal that lived during the Late Jurassic in what is now the Lourinhã Formation. The type and only species is Dracopelta zbyszewskii, which is represented by a partial skeleton including unpublished material.
Emausaurus is a genus of thyreophoran or armored dinosaur from the Early Jurassic. Its fossils have been found in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. Emausaurus is the only known Toarcian thyreophoran, as well as the only dinosaur from the zone of the same age with a formal name.
The El Mers Group is a geological group in the Middle Atlas of Morocco. It is subdivided into three formations named the El Mers I, II, and III Formations, respectively. It is a marine deposit primarily consisting of marl, with gypsum present in the upper part of unit 3. It is the lateral equivalent of the terrestrial Guettioua Sandstone. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the group, most notably those of sauropods and the unusual thyreophorans Adratiklit, Thyreosaurus, and Spicomellus.
Adratiklit is an extinct genus of herbivorous stegosaurian dinosaur that lived on the supercontinent Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic period. The genus contains a single species, Adratiklit boulahfa. Its remains were found in the El Mers III Formation (Bathonian–?Callovian), near Boulahfa, south of Boulemane, Fès-Meknès, north Morocco.
Spicomellus is an extinct genus of early ankylosaurian dinosaur from the El Mers III Formation (Bathonian-Callovian) of Morocco. The genus contains a single species, S. afer, known from a single rib with fused osteoderms. Spicomellus represents the oldest named ankylosaur.
Parankylosauria is a group of basal ankylosaurian dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous of South America, Antarctica, and Australia. It is thought the group split from other ankylosaurs during the mid-Jurassic period, despite this being unpreserved in the fossil record.
Bashanosaurus is an extinct genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Shaximiao Formation of Yunyang County, China. The genus contains a single species, Bashanosaurus primitivus, known from incomplete skeletons belonging to three individuals. It is one of the basalmost stegosaurs, as well as one of the oldest known stegosaurs, along with Adratiklit, Isaberrysaura, and Thyreosaurus.
Jakapil is a genus of basal thyreophoran dinosaur from the Candeleros Formation of Argentina. The type species is Jakapil kaniukura.
Baiyinosaurus is an extinct genus of stegosaurian dinosaurs from the Middle Jurassic Wangjiashan Formation of China. The genus contains a single species, B. baojiensis, known from a partial skeleton including cranial bones. The skeletal anatomy of Baiyinosaurus demonstrates transitional features between basal thyreophorans and stegosaurs. While many stegosaurs are known from China, Baiyinosaurus is the only one currently named from Gansu Province.
