Dacentrurus
Extinct species of reptile / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dacentrurus (meaning "tail full of points"), originally known as Omosaurus, is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic and perhaps Early Cretaceous (154 - 140 mya) of Europe.
Dacentrurus | |
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Holotype specimen (NHMUK OR 46013), Natural History Museum, London | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Thyreophora |
Clade: | †Stegosauria |
Family: | †Stegosauridae |
Subfamily: | †Dacentrurinae |
Genus: | †Dacentrurus Lucas, 1902 |
Species: | †D. armatus |
Binomial name | |
†Dacentrurus armatus (Owen, 1875 [originally Omosaurus]) | |
Synonyms | |
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Its type species, Omosaurus armatus, was named in 1875, based on a skeleton found in a clay pit in the Kimmeridge Clay in Swindon, England. In 1902 the genus was renamed Dacentrurus because the name Omosaurus had already been used for a phytosaur. After 1875, half a dozen other species would be named but perhaps only Dacentrurus armatus is valid.
Finds of this animal have been limited and much of its appearance is uncertain. It was a heavily built quadrupedal herbivore, adorned with plates and spikes, reaching 8–9 metres (26–30 ft) in length and 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons) in body mass.
The relationships between Dacentrurus and other Dacentrurinae, such as Miragaia, are contentious.