Outline: a typical early armored dinosaur
Scutellosaurus
skoo-TEL-oh-SORE-us
"little shield lizard"
- Lived
- 201 to 184 million years ago, Early Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 1.2 m (4 ft)
- Group
- Early armored dinosaurs
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Colbert 1981
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical early armored dinosaur shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
195 million years ago
Field notes
About Scutellosaurus
What it was like
Scutellosaurus was a small plant eater about 1.2 meters (4 feet) long, one of the earliest armored dinosaurs. Hundreds of small bony studs ran along its back, sides and tail.
Unlike its big armored relatives, it was light enough to run on its hind legs. Its very long tail helped balance its body.
Its world
It lived in the Early Jurassic, about 201 to 184 million years ago, in what is now Arizona. Its fossils come from the Kayenta Formation, a land of rivers and dunes.
It shared that land with the crested hunter Dilophosaurus, the smaller Megapnosaurus and the long-necked Sarahsaurus. Its armor would have helped protect it from those predators.
How it was found
Colbert named Scutellosaurus in 1981. About 17 finds are known.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Thyreophora
Sources: WikidataNamed in: E. H. Colbert. 1981. A primitive ornithischian dinosaur from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 53:1-61