Skip to content
◈Dinosauria Tree

Quick access on iPhone

Add Dinosauria Tree to your Home Screen

Open the dinosaur tree like an app, with its own icon and more screen space.

  1. 1. Tap Share

    Find the Share button in your browser toolbar.

  2. 2. Choose Add to Home Screen

    You may need to scroll down in the Share menu.

  3. 3. Tap Add

    The Dinosauria Tree icon will appear on your Home Screen.

Dismiss it and this reminder will wait 30 days.

clade · 10 represented species

Thyreophora

Thyreophora is the armoured ornithischian lineage containing stegosaurs, ankylosaurs and their early relatives.

Explore this branch Parent: Ornithischia

Public correction form

Report an error

Thyreophora

The page URL and title are included automatically. Optional contact details are used only to discuss this report. Do not submit private information or precise sensitive fossil-site coordinates.

Representative silhouette for Thyreophora
3Direct child groups
8Countries represented
200–66 MaDataset range

Definition

Characteristics and significance

Thyreophorans evolved dermal armour into plates, spikes, body shields and, in some ankylosaurs, specialized tail weapons.

  • Rows of bony osteoderms embedded in the skin
  • Predominantly quadrupedal locomotion in later members
  • Specialized plates, spikes or armour in derived lineages

Name meaning: Shield bearers

Branch structure

Direct branches in this dataset

clade

Stegosauria

Open branch clade

Ankylosauria

Open branch genus

Scelidosaurus

Open branch

Representative taxa

Dinosaurs in this branch

Side-view life reconstruction of Stegosaurus stenops by Fred WierumArt by Fred Wierum · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jurassic

Stegosaurus stenops

The best-known plated dinosaur: a low-browsing Morrison Formation herbivore with two rows of tall back plates and four formidable tail spikes. Its exceptionally complete holotype preserves rare details including a skull and throat ossicles.

herbivore~6.8 m
Side-view life reconstruction of Kentrosaurus aethiopicusArt by Connor Ashbridge · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jurassic

Kentrosaurus aethiopicus

A compact Tanzanian stegosaur with plates over the front half of its back and increasingly long defensive spikes toward the hips and tail.

herbivore~4.5 m
Side-view life reconstruction of Tuojiangosaurus multispinusArt by Connor Ashbridge · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jurassic

Tuojiangosaurus multispinus

A well-represented Chinese stegosaur with a long low skull, changing plate shapes along its back and formidable spikes toward the end of the tail.

herbivore~7 m
Full-body side-view life reconstruction of Miragaia longicollumArt by Connor Ashbridge · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jurassic

Miragaia longicollum

A Portuguese stegosaur with at least seventeen neck vertebrae—more than most sauropods and far more than its short-necked relatives.

herbivore~6.5 m
Side-view life reconstruction of Dacentrurus armatusArt by Connor Ashbridge · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jurassic

Dacentrurus armatus

A heavily built European stegosaur with a long neck, broad back plates and formidable tail spikes, known from a historic English skeleton and newer Iberian fossils.

herbivore~6 m
Side-view life reconstruction of Ankylosaurus magniventrisArt by Emily Willoughby · CC BY-SA 3.0

Cretaceous

Ankylosaurus magniventris

A huge, broad-bodied ankylosaurid from the final two million years of the Cretaceous, protected by bony armour and armed with a stiff-handled tail club. Despite its fame, no complete skeleton is known.

herbivore~7.5 m

Distribution

Geographic record

United States · Tanzania · China · Portugal · United Kingdom · France · Spain · Canada

Country-level summary of represented seed records, not a complete range map.

Sources

Further reading

Introduction to the DinosauriaDinosaur Paleobiology