NAME

Meaning - Scutellosaurus means “little shield lizard”
Pronounced - skoo-TEL-o-SAWR-us
Named By - Edwin H. Colbert
When Named - 1981
DIET

Herbivore (plant-eater)
SIZE

Length - 4 ft (1.2 m) long
Height - 18 inches (46 cm) tall at the hips
Weight - 22 pounds (10 kg)
WHEN IT LIVED

Early Jurassic period, about 208-200 million years ago
WHERE IT LIVED

Fossils have been found in Arizona, USA, North America.
FOSSILS

Two partial skeletons have been found, including hundreds of scutes (bony plates of armor).
CLASSIFICATION
  • Kingdom Animalia (animals)
  • Phylum Chordata (having a hollow nerve chord ending in a brain)
  • Class Archosauria (diapsids with socket-set teeth, etc.)
  • Order Ornithischia - beaked, bird-hipped dinosaurs that were plant-eaters
  • Suborder Thyreophora - armored dinosaurs
  • Genus Scutellosaurus
  • Species S. lawleri (type species named by Colbert, 1981)
INTERESTING FACTS

Scutellosaurus had hundreds of small bony armored plates (six different types of scutes) running along its back and tail. It had a long tail and a long body. Its thin hind legs were much longer than the front legs. It was a semi-bipedal animal: it could walk on two or four legs.