Outline: a typical ankylosaur
Gargoyleosaurus
"gargoyle lizard"
- Lived
- 152 to 145 million years ago, Late Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 4 m (13 ft)
- Group
- Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Carpenter et al. 1998
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ankylosaur shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
150 million years ago
Field notes
About Gargoyleosaurus
What it was like
Gargoyleosaurus was one of the earliest well known ankylosaurs, a low, armored plant eater about 4 meters (13 feet) long. Its skull was covered in bony plates, and its back had rows of armor and spikes. It had no tail club.
Its world
It lived in the Late Jurassic, in what is now Wyoming. It comes from the Morrison Formation, where it shared the land with Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus.
How it was found
Carpenter and colleagues named Gargoyleosaurus in 1998, from a skull and partial skeleton. Its name comes from the knobbly, gargoyle-like look of its head.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Nodosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: K. Carpenter, C. Miles, and K. Cloward. 1998. Skull of a Jurassic ankylosaur (Dinosauria). Nature 393:782-783