Scutellosaurus

Taxobox
name = "Scutellosaurus"
fossil_range = Early Jurassic

---

image_caption = "Scutellosaurus lawleri"
image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = Thyreophora
genus = "Scutellosaurus"
genus_authority = Colbert, 1981
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"S. lawleri" Colbert, 1981 (type)

"Scutellosaurus" (meaning "little-shielded lizard") is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur that lived in North America around 200 to 196 million years ago, in the Early Jurassic times. It is classified in Thyreophora, the armoured dinosaurs; its closest relative may have been "Scelidosaurus", another armored dinosaur which was mainly a quadrupedal dinosaur, unlike bipedal "Scutellosaurus". "Scutellosaurus" was around 1.3 m (4 ft 4 inches) long, 0.5 m (18 in) tall at the hips, and weighed 10 kg (22 lb). The fossil evidence includes two partial skeletons recovered from Arizona, although of the skull only the lower jaw has been recovered. There are also several hundred scutes running along its neck to its back and as far down as its tail.

References

*"The Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia", D. Dixon, 1998 (ISBN 0-7064-3238-X)