Hoplitosaurus
Hoplite lizard; named after the hoplite, a type of heavily armed ancient Greek soldier, in reference to its armored body, combined with Greek sauros (lizard)
Hoplitosaurus was a genus of armored dinosaur related to Polacanthus. It was named from a partial skeleton found in the Barremian (Early Cretaceous) Lakota Formation of Custer County, South Dakota. It is an obscure genus which has been subject to some misinterpretation of its damaged remains. Although there was a push to synonymize it with Polacanthus in the late 1980s-early 1990s, Hoplitosaurus has been accepted as a valid albeit poorly known genus in more recent reviews.
Diagnosis
- Plates and spines with massive appearance and large basal surfaces
- Abrupt taper and sharp edges on dermal plates and spines
- Caudal spine with long, comparatively wide basal portion tapering to spike form
- Caudal plates triangular in section with abrupt basal taper and concave curve
- Dorsal plates compressed and narrow, high triangle in profile
- Small, heavy plates rather than large, thin, flattened plates characteristic of other Stegosaurs
- Nuchal armor of small, thick, irregularly quadrilateral keeled plates
- Gular armor of rounded ossicles varying 3-25 mm in diameter
Species
Hoplitosaurus marshi Lucas, 1902
Type species
Named for Othniel Charles Marsh, the prominent American paleontologist.
- Holotype
- USNM 4752 , National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- Material
- Plates, spines, nuchal and gular armature, vertebrae, and limb bones
- Horizon
- Chilson Member, Lakota Formation, Berriasian–Valanginian, Early Cretaceous , 143.1–132.6 million years ago
- Locality
- Calico Canyon, South Dakota, United States
References
- Lucas, F. A. (1901). A new dinosaur, Stegosaurus marshi, from the Lower Cretaceous of South Dakota. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 23(1224): 591-592. lucas1901a
- Lucas, F. A. (1902). Paleontological notes. The generic name Omosaurus. A new generic name for Stegosaurus marshi. Science, new series 16(402): 435. doi:10.1126/science.16.402.435 lucas1902a
- Gilmore, C. W. (1914). Osteology of the armored Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genus Stegosaurus. United States National Museum Bulletin 89: 1-136. gilmore1914b
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Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length and mass estimates.
paul2024a -
Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.
Source of the appearance features.
jones2026a