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Scelidosaurus

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Dinosaurs

          iScelidosaurus

                        Fossil range: Early Jurassic

   Scelidosaurus harrisonii model, Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre
   Scelidosaurus harrisonii model,
   Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre
                      Scientific classification

   Kingdom:    Animalia
   Phylum:     Chordata
   Class:      Sauropsida
   Superorder: Dinosauria
   Order:      Ornithischia
   Suborder:   Thyreophora
   Infraorder: Ankylosauria
   Family:     Scelidosauridae
               Cope, 1869
   Genus:      Scelidosaurus

                                Binomial name

   Scelidosaurus harrisonii
   Owen, 1859

   Scelidosaurus (meaning 'limb lizard', from Greek skelos/σκελος meaning
   'leg' and saurus/σαυρος meaning 'lizard') was a quadrupedal, heavily
   plated, plant-eating (herbivorous) dinosaur about 4 metres long. It
   lived during the Early Jurassic Period and its fossils have been found
   in both England and in Arizona, United States.

Classification

   Scelidosaurus was an ornithischian and has been classified at different
   times as an ankylosaur or stegosaur. This debate is still ongoing,
   although it is now considered by most to be more closely related to
   ankylosaurids than to stegosaurids and, by extension, a true
   ankylosaur. Despite its ankylosaur classification, it shared
   similarities with Stegosaurus, including a heavy body highest at the
   hips and bony plates down its back.

Discovery and Species

   An 19th century rendering of Scelidosaurus
   Enlarge
   An 19th century rendering of Scelidosaurus
   near-complete skeleton from the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre
   Enlarge
   near-complete skeleton from the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre

   Scelidosaurus was named by Sir Richard Owen in 1859. While James
   Harrison of Charmouth, England was quarrying the cliffs of Black Ven
   (between Charmouth and Lyme Regis (possibly for raw material for the
   manufacture of cement), in 1858, he found a few fragmentary fossils of
   limb bones. He sent them to Professor Richard Owen of the Natural
   History Museum (originally the British Museum (Natural History),
   London. These, with later finds from the same spot, revealed a
   near-complete skeleton.

   Scelidosaurus Species
     * S. harrisonii

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scelidosaurus"
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