Scelidosaurus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Dinosaurs

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.

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.

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

• S. harrisonii