Dino card No. 0520 of 2,015

Diracodon

Say it: dye-RACK-oh-don

Ate: PlantsPlated dinosLate Jurassic to Late Cretaceous

Diracodon was a plated dinosaur that walked on four legs and munched on plants. It lived long ago during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Scientists think it was a type of stegosaur, related to the famous Stegosaurus.2

Lived

162 to 94 million years ago2

Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils of Diracodon have been found in Wyoming, USA, in rocks of the Morrison Formation.1

Food

Plants2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Diracodon was named by the famous paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1881.2

The name Diracodon means 'two-point tooth' or 'two-ray tooth', but scientists are not sure exactly what it refers to.1

Diracodon is known from a partial skeleton, including parts of the skull and jaws.1

Some scientists think Diracodon might be the same animal as Stegosaurus, because their fossils are very similar.1

Diracodon lived in the Late Jurassic, about 155 to 145 million years ago, in what is now North America.1

Like other stegosaurs, Diracodon probably had plates on its back and spikes on its tail, but we don't have direct evidence from its fossils.2

AI-made picture of Diracodon — An AI-made picture of how Diracodon might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

Myth buster

Myth: Diracodon is a completely separate dinosaur from Stegosaurus.

Truth: Many paleontologists think Diracodon is actually the same animal as Stegosaurus, because its fossils are very similar. Some experts consider Diracodon a synonym of Stegosaurus.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Diracodon
Named by: Marsh 18812
Group: Plated dinos
Family / clade: Stegosauridae2
Classification: Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Thyreophora2
Age of the rocks: 162 to 94 million years (Oxfordian to Cenomanian)2
Rock formations: Morrison2
Countries: USA2
Fossil records: 86 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Diracodon was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1881 based on a partial skeleton found in Wyoming, USA. The type specimen is stored at the Yale Peabody Museum.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Diracodon is a valid genus or just a synonym of Stegosaurus. Some studies treat it as a nomen dubium, meaning the name is doubtful.1

Where the facts come from

PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Diracodon in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@dinowiki.app and we will fix it.