Dino card No. 1602 of 2,015

Scutellosaurus

Say it: skoo-TELL-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “little-shielded lizard”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosEarly Jurassic

Scutellosaurus was one of the earliest armoured dinosaurs. It had hundreds of bony plates along its back and tail, like a tiny walking shield. It could run on its hind legs and used its long tail for balance.1

Lived

201 to 184 million years ago3

Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

Arizona, USA1 2

Food

Plants3 1

Length

1.2 to 1.3 m1 2

Weight

3 kg1

Artist's life restoration of Scutellosaurus — How Scutellosaurus may have looked, by Nobu Tamura. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Scutellosaurus had over 300 bony plates called osteoderms on its neck, back and tail.1

It lived about 196 million years ago during the Early Jurassic Period.1

This dinosaur was only about 1.3 metres long, about the size of a large dog.1

Scutellosaurus could walk on two legs, unlike later armoured dinosaurs that walked on all fours.1

Its closest relatives include Emausaurus and Scelidosaurus, which were also early armoured dinosaurs.1

The first fossil was found by David Lawler on the Navajo Nation in Arizona.1

Its name means 'little-shielded lizard' because of the many small shields on its body.1

Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Scutellosaurus was a slow, heavy dinosaur like later ankylosaurs.

Truth: Scutellosaurus was lightly built and could probably run on its hind legs, making it much faster.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Scutellosaurus
Named by: Colbert 19813
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Thyreophora3
Classification: Ornithischia > Thyreophora3
Age of the rocks: 201 to 184 million years (Hettangian to Pliensbachian)3
Rock formations: Kayenta3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 23 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Scutellosaurus was named by Edwin Colbert in 1981. The first fossils were collected by David Lawler in the Kayenta Formation of Arizona.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how the bony plates were arranged on its body, because the fossils are incomplete.1

Where the facts come from

Scutellosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Scutellosaurus | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Scutellosaurus 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.