Lexovisaurus

Taxobox
name = "Lexovisaurus"
fossil_range=Middle-late Jurassic


image_width = 200px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = Thyreophora
infraordo = Stegosauria
familia = Stegosauridae
genus = "Lexovisaurus"
genus_authority = Hoffstetter (1957)
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Lexovisaurus durobrivensis"

"Lexovisaurus" was one of the first dinosaurs from mid-to-Late Jurassic Europe, 165 mya to be discovered. It was a stegosaur. Its fossils (pieces of armor and limb bones) have been found in France and northern England.

The French specimens show that "Lexovisaurus" was probably rather like "Stegosaurus". Traditionally, this dinosaur was depicted as having either large spines over the hips or shoulders, with a selection of flat plates and round pointed spines that ran along the back and tail. "Lexovisaurus" was probably about 5 m long. The type specimen, "Lexovisaurus durobrivensis", was formalized by Hoffstetter in 1957. The specimen was originally placed in "Omosaurus" (now "Dacentrurus") 70 years earlier. Recent work by Susannah Maidment and colleagues indicates that "Lexovisaurus" is based on undiagnostic remains, so these workers coined "Loricatosaurus" to hold other remains that had been assigned to "Lexovisaurus".cite journal |last=Maidment |first=Susannah C.R. |coauthors=Norman, David B.; Barrett, Paul M.; and Upchurch, Paul |year=in press |title=Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |doi=10.1017/S1477201908002459 |pages=1]

References

* [http://www.users.qwest.net/~jstweet1/stegosauria.htm "Lexovisaurus"] at "Thescelosaurus"!
* Benton, Michael. 1992. "Dinosaur and other prehistoric animal Fact Finder" 1992.