Open Paleo

Loricatosaurus

Maidment et al., 2008 LOH-ree-KAH-toe-SOR-us

From Latin loricatus (armored) combined with Greek sauros (lizard); meaning "armored lizard"

165.3–161.5 million years ago Callovian, Middle Jurassic
Middle Jurassic stages

Loricatosaurus is a genus of stegosaurid dinosaur known from Callovian-aged (Middle Jurassic) rocks of England and France.

Diagnosis

  1. First or second caudal vertebra with bifurcated distal transverse processes
  2. Anterior caudal vertebrae bear small dorsal projections about two-thirds along transverse process
  3. Mid-caudal vertebrae with large anterior and posterior chevron facets converging ventrally, creating V-shaped centra in lateral view

Species

Loricatosaurus priscus (Nopcsa, 1911)

Type species

First named as Stegosaurus priscus

From Latin 'priscus' meaning 'ancient' or 'of former times', reflecting the prehistoric nature of the animal when originally named Stegosaurus priscus by Baron Franz Nopcsa in 1911.

Holotype
NHMUK PV R 3167 , Natural History Museum
Material
Partial skeleton including two cervical vertebrae, six dorsal vertebrae, 16 caudal vertebrae, right humerus, right ulna, carpus, two metacarpals, partial ilia, partial right ischium and pubis, left femur, left partial tibia and partial fibula with fused tarsals, and dermal armor
Horizon
Peterborough Member, Oxford Clay Formation, Callovian, Middle Jurassic , 165.3–161.5 million years ago
Locality
Fletton, City of Peterborough, United Kingdom

Synonyms

  • Stegosaurus priscus reassigned

    Original combination established by Nopcsa (1911) for BMNH R3167, a partial skeleton from the Callovian of Cambridgeshire. Hoffstetter (1957) regarded it as a junior synonym of Lexovisaurus durobrivensis; Maidment and colleagues (2008) removed the specimen from Lexovisaurus and made it the holotype of the new genus Loricatosaurus.

References

  1. Maidment, S. C. R.; Norman, D. B.; Barrett, P. M.; Upchurch, P. (2008). Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6(4): 367-407. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1017/S1477201908002459 maidment2008a
  2. Barron, A. J. M.; Lott, G. K.; Riding, J. B. (2012). Stratigraphical framework for the Middle Jurassic strata of Great Britain and the adjoining continental shelf. British Geological Survey Research Report RR/11/06. British Geological Survey.

    Gives the Peterborough Member as the Lower Oxford Clay of traditional usage, the interval this taxon's sources name. It does not itself discuss Loricatosaurus.

    barron2012a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a
  4. Hoffstetter, R. (1957). Quelques observations sur les Stégosaurinés [Some Observations on the Stegosaurinae]. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 2nde série 29: 537-547. hoffstetter1957a
  5. Nopcsa, F. (1911). Notes on British dinosaurs. Part IV: Stegosaurus priscus, sp. nov. Geological Magazine 8(3): 109-115. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/S0016756800110714 nopcsa1911b
  6. Nopcsa, F. (1911). Notes on British dinosaurs. Part IV: Stegosaurus priscus, sp. nov. Geological Magazine 8(4): 145-153. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/S0016756800110854 nopcsa1911a