Stegosauridae
Extinct family of dinosaurs / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Stegosaurinae?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Stegosauridae is a family of thyreophoran dinosaurs (armoured dinosaurs) within the suborder Stegosauria. The clade is defined as all species of dinosaurs more closely related to Stegosaurus than Huayangosaurus.[7] The name ‘Stegosauridae’ is thus a stem-based name taken from the well-represented genus – Stegosaurus (meaning ‘roofed lizard’).[8] Fossil evidence of stegosaurids, dating from the Middle Jurassic through the Early Cretaceous, have been recovered from North America, Eurasia and Africa.[9][10]
Stegosaurids | |
---|---|
Mounted skeleton of Stegosaurus specimen Natural History Museum, London | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Thyreophora |
Clade: | †Stegosauria |
Family: | †Stegosauridae Marsh, 1880 |
Subgroups[1] | |
|
The clade Stegosauridae is composed of the genera Stegosaurus, Dacentrurus, Miragaia, Loricatosaurus, and Kentrosaurus, with the last considered to be at the base of the clade.[11] The stegosaurids like all other stegosaurians were quadrupedal herbivores that exhibited the characteristic stegosaurian dorsal dermal plates. These large, thin, erect plates are thought to be aligned parasagittally from the neck to near the end of the tail. The end of the tail has pairs of spikes, sometimes referred to as a thagomizer.[8][10] Although defense, thermo-regulation and display have been theorized to be the possible functions of these dorsal plates, a study of the ontogenetic histology of the plates and spikes suggests that the plates serve different functions at different stages of the stegosaurids’ life histories. The terminal spikes in the tail are thought to have been used in old adults, at least, as a weapon for defence.[12] However, the function of stegosaurid plates and spikes, at different life stages, still remains a matter of great debate.
Stegosaurids are distinguished from other stegosaurians in that the former have lost the plesiomorphic pre-maxillary teeth and lateral scute rows along the trunk.[13] Furthermore, stegosaurids as have long narrow skulls and longer hindlimbs compared to their forelimbs.[10] However, these two features are not diagnostic of Stegosauridae because they may also be present in non-stegosaurid stegosaurians.[7]