Outline: a typical stegosaur
Thyreosaurus
"shield lizard"
Type species Thyreosaurus atlasicus
- Lived
- 168 to 162 million years ago, Middle Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Stegosaurs, Stegosauridae
- Found in
- Morocco
- Named by
- Zafaty et al. 2024
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
165 million years ago
Field notes
About Thyreosaurus
What it was like
Thyreosaurus was a stegosaur, a plant eater with bony plates or spikes along its back. It is known from part of one skeleton, including back bones, ribs and pieces of armor.
Its world
It lived in the Middle Jurassic, in what is now Morocco. It comes from the El Mers III Formation, where it shared the land with the spiky early ankylosaur Spicomellus and the stegosaur Adratiklit.
How it was found
Zafaty and colleagues named Thyreosaurus in 2024. The type species is Thyreosaurus atlasicus, after the mountains where it was found.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Stegosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: O. Zafaty, M. Oukassou, and F. Riguetti, J. Company, S. Bendrioua, R. Tabuce, A. Charrière, X. Pereda-Suberbiola. 2024. A new stegosaurian dinosaur (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) with a remarkable dermal armour from the Middle Jurassic of North Africa. Gondwana Research 131:344-362