Stegosaurinae
Stegosaurinae is a subfamily of stegosaurid dinosaurs comprising Stegosaurus and its closest relatives, defined as the stegosaurs more closely related to Stegosaurus than to Dacentrurus. Its plate-backed members range in age from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous, with fossils known from North America, Europe, and Asia. Stegosaurinae is among the most derived stegosaurian lineages, and some of its members, including Stegosaurus itself, bear large, broad dorsal plates arranged in two staggered, alternating rows along the back. Alongside the more spike-bearing Dacentrurinae, it makes up one of the two principal branches of the most advanced stegosaurids.
Diagnosis
- Large parasagittal dorsal plates, alternating in derived members
- Maximum-clade membership defined by closer relationship to Stegosaurus stenops than to Dacentrurus armatus
Genera placed directly in Stegosaurinae
- Hesperosaurus Oxfordian–Berriasian (161.5–137.1 Ma)United States
- Jiangjunosaurus Callovian–Oxfordian (165.3–154.8 Ma)China
- Loricatosaurus Callovian (165.3–161.5 Ma)United Kingdom
- Stegosaurus Kimmeridgian–Tithonian (154.8–143.1 Ma)United States
- Wuerhosaurus Barremian–Aptian (125.8–113.2 Ma)Chinaunder dispute
- Yanbeilong Albian (113.2–100.5 Ma)China
References
-
Marsh, O. C. (1880). Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs, Part III. American Journal of Science s3-19(111): 253-259. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-19.111.253
Introduced the name Stegosauridae in passing, from which the subfamily name takes its authorship by coordination.
marsh1880a -
Sánchez-Fenollosa, S.; Cobos, A. (2025). New insights into the phylogeny and skull evolution of stegosaurian dinosaurs: an extraordinary cranium from the European Late Jurassic (Dinosauria: Stegosauria). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 165-189. doi:10.3897/vz.75.e146618
Provided a modern phylogenetic definition of Stegosaurinae.
sánchez-fenollosa2025a