Scutellosaurus lawleri

This small armored dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Arizona was a basal thyreophorean, a group that includes the stegosaurs and ankylosaurs. It had an extremely long tail and a body covered with tiny scutes. At least two specimens are known.

Name

Scutellosaurus lawleri

Authority

Colbert, 1981

Meaning of generic name

"Small-shield lizard".

Size

Body length: 1.2 m, Skull length: ?

Remains

Holotype (MNA P1.175): partial skeleton

[Referred specimen not mentioned but at least one implied according to text above]

Age and Distribution

Horizon: Kayenta Formation. Early Jurassic (Hettangian)

Locality: Rock head, Navajo nation, Arizona, US.

Classification

Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophorea

Further Reading

E. H. Colbert. 1981. A primitive ornithischian dinosaur from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 53:1-61

Image by Nobu Tamura (click to enlarge)

Scutellosaurus lawleri: