Group:	Dinosauria - Stegosauria
Original Specimen Location:	AMNH
Specimen Number:	AMNH 650
Age:	Late Jurassic
Where Found:	Bone Cabin Quarry, Wyoming
Date Found:	Peter Kaisen, 1901
Size:	20’ x 5’ x 9/10’
Original Material:	composite skeleton
Source:	RCI
Type:	skeleton
3d Scan:	no

 

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Thyreophora
Infraorder: Stegosauria
Family: Stegosauridae
Genus: Stegosaurus

One of the most instantly recognizable dinosaurs, Stegosaurus was a medium-sized Jurassic herbivore notable for the series of ossified plates and spines located on its back and tail, respectively. These bizarre characteristics are not found on any modern animal, and so scientists can only speculate on their function. The tail spikes can reach up to 2 or 3 feet in length, and are widely understood to be defensive in nature – a quick pivot of the body could have slammed the spikes against a predator.

The distinctive plates are more mysterious in their function. Although initially believed to be defensive, their placement along the spine seems to suggest otherwise. Arising from skin tissue and not directly attached to the skeleton, they resemble the bony cores of modern animal horns. The most popular theorized functions include sexual display or some form of heat regulation.

Type Species: Stegosaurus armatus

Marsh, OC. (1877). A new order of extinct Reptilia (Stegosauria) from the Jurassic of the Rocky Mountains. American Journal of Science Vol. 3 No. 14, pp. 513–514.

Original Locality:

Colorado, USA.

Scientific Resources:

Maidment, SCR; Norman, DB; Barrett, PM; Upchurch, P. (2008). Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, Cambridge University Press, May 2008.

Carpenter, K (1998). Armor of Stegosaurus stenops, and the taphonomic history of a new specimen from Garden Park Colorado. The Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation: An Interdisciplinary Study. Part 1. Modern Geology 22, pp. 127–144.

de Buffrenil, V; Farlow, JO; and de Ricqles, A. (1986). Growth and Function of Stegosaurus Plates: Evidence from Bone Histology. Paleobilogy, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 459-473.

Farlow, JO; Thompson, CV; and Rosner, DE. (1976). Plates of the Dinosaur Stegosaurus: Forced Convection Heat Loss Fins? Science, Vol. 192, No. 4244, pp. 1123-1125.