Open Paleo

Stegosaurides

Bohlin, 1953 STEG-oh-suh-RYE-deez Nomen dubium

From 'Stegosaurus' and Greek '-ides' meaning 'resembling' or 'shaped like'; meaning 'Stegosaurus-shaped', referencing its similarity in armoring to Stegosaurus.

125.8–100.5 million years ago Barremian–Albian, Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous stages

Stegosaurides is a genus of herbivorous thyreophoran (perhaps ankylosaurid or possibly stegosaurian) dinosaur. It lived during the Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in the Xinminpu Group near Heishan in Gansu Province in China. These fossils consist of fragmentary material, including dermal spine elements. The genus is occasionally misspelled as "Stegosauroides".

Under dispute

Bohlin (1953) provisionally placed Stegosaurides excavatus in Stegosauridae, but later reviews refer it to Ankylosauria (Maryańska, 1977; Coombs, 1978; Vickaryous and colleagues, 2004), and Arbour and Currie (2015) find its affinities impossible to determine beyond a questionable thyreophoran, since the spine base occurs in both stegosaurs and ankylosaurs.

Species

Stegosaurides excavatus Bohlin, 1953 Nomen dubium

Type species

From Latin 'excavatus' meaning 'hollowed out', referring to two large depressions, one on each side of the spine base.

Holotype
Not catalogued (unknown)
Material
A couple of vertebrae and the base of a dermal spine
Horizon
Xinminpu Group, Barremian–Albian, Early Cretaceous , 125.8–100.5 million years ago
Locality
Hui-hui-p'u, Gansu, China

References

  1. Bohlin, B. (1953). VI. Vertebrate Palaeontology 6. Fossil reptiles from Mongolia and Kansu. Reports from the Scientific Expedition to the North-western Provinces of China under Leadership of Dr. Sven Hedin. The Sino-Swedish Expedition Publication 37: 1-113.

    Named Stegosaurides for two vertebrae and the base of a dermal spine, provisionally in Stegosauridae.

    bohlin1953a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Lists the genus among nomina dubia, as an indeterminate thyreophoran.

    jones2026a
  3. Maryańska, T. (1977). Ankylosauridae (Dinosauria) from Mongolia. Palaeontologia Polonica 37: 85-151.

    Treated Stegosaurides as a nomen dubium on very incomplete, badly preserved material, a questionable ankylosaur.

    maryańska1977a
  4. Coombs, W. P. Jr. (1978). The families of the ornithischian dinosaur order Ankylosauria. Palaeontology 21(1): 143-170.

    Listed Stegosaurides in Ankylosauridae; examined a cast of the type, AMNH 2070.

    coombs1978a
  5. Carpenter, K. (2001). Phylogenetic analysis of the Ankylosauria. The Armored Dinosaurs 455-483. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.

    Listed Stegosaurides among ankylosaur taxa whose material does not allow a diagnosis.

    carpenter2001d
  6. Vickaryous, M. K.; Maryańska, T.; Weishampel, D. B. (2004). Ankylosauria. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 363-392. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Listed Stegosaurides excavatus among the nomina dubia of Ankylosauria.

    vickaryous2004a
  7. Arbour, V. M.; Currie, P. J. (2015). Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14(5): 385-444. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1059985

    Found the affinities of Stegosaurides impossible to determine; nomen dubium, ?Thyreophora indet.

    arbour2015a