{"schema_version":1,"catalogue_version":1,"date":"2026-10-06","name":"Stegosaurus","description":"Stegosaurus (; lit. 'roof-lizard') is a genus of extinct herbivorous four-legged armored dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been found in the western United States and in Portugal, where they are found in Kimmeridgian- to Tithonian-aged strata, dating to between 155 and 145 million years ago. Of the species that have been classified in the upper Morrison Formation of the western US, only three are universally recognized: S. stenops, S. ungulatus and S. sulcatus. The remains of over 80 individual animals of this genus have been found. Stegosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and Allosaurus, the latter of which may have preyed on it.\nThey were large, heavily built, herbivorous quadrupeds with rounded backs, short fore limbs, long hind limbs, and tails held high in the air.","diet":"herbivore","details":{"taxonomic_rank":"genus","period":"Oxfordian - Cenomanian","classification":"Stegosauridae","length_meters":null,"weight_kg":null},"findings":{"summary":null,"first_discovery":null,"named_by":"Marsh","named_year":1877,"locations":[{"country_code":"US","region":"Wyoming"},{"country_code":"US","region":"Utah"},{"country_code":"US","region":"Colorado"}],"references":[{"citation":"O. C. Marsh. 1877. A new order of extinct Reptilia (Stegosauria) from the Jurassic of the Rocky Mountains. American Journal of Science and Arts 14:513-514","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A7808"},{"citation":"S. W. Williston. 1901. The dinosaurian genus Creosaurus, Marsh. American Journal of Science, series 4 11(11):111-114","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A4387"},{"citation":"B. Brown. 1932. A spine-armored saurian of the past. Natural History 32(6):493-496","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A58803"},{"citation":"C. A. Bjoraker-Naus. 1997. The Warm Springs Ranch Dinosaur Locality, Thermopolis, Wyoming. Preliminary flora and fauna analysis. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17(3):32A","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A5760"},{"citation":"J. R. Foster. 2003. Paleoecological analysis of the vertebrate fauna of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), Rocky Mountain region, U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 23:1-95","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A15179"},{"citation":"D. J. Chure and G. F. Engelmann. 1989. The fauna of the Morrison Formation in Dinosaur National Monument. In J. J. Flynn (ed.), Mesozoic/Cenozoic Vertebrate Paleontology: Classic Localities, Contemporary Approaches: Field Trip Guide Book T322. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A15567"},{"citation":"O. C. Marsh. 1879. Notice of new Jurassic reptiles. The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3 18:501–505","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A7814"},{"citation":"O. C. Marsh. 1887. Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs. Part IX. The skull and dermal armor of Stegosaurus. American Journal of Science 34:413-417","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A10619"},{"citation":"O. C. Marsh. 1881. Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs. Part V. The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3 21:417-423","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A7816"},{"citation":"C. W. Gilmore. 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","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A10606"},{"citation":"O. C. Marsh. 1881. Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs. Part IV. Spinal cord, pelvis, and limbs of Stegosaurus. The American Journal of Science and Arts, series 3 21:167–170","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A89529"},{"citation":"J. H. Ostrom and J. S. McIntosh. 1999. Marsh's Dinosaurs: The Collections from Como Bluff. Yale University Press, New Haven","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/refs/single.json?id=ref%3A10618"}],"sampled_occurrences":20},"image":{"url":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Journal.pone.0138352.g001A.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original","thumbnail_url":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Journal.pone.0138352.g001A.jpg/960px-Journal.pone.0138352.g001A.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","alt":"Stegosaurus: Journal.pone.0138352.g001A.jpg","author":"Susannah Maidment et al. & Natural History Museum, London","license":"CC BY 4.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0","source_url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Journal.pone.0138352.g001A.jpg"},"sources":[{"name":"Wikipedia contributors (article introduction)","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stegosaurus","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"},{"name":"Paleobiology Database (normalized taxon data)","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/taxa/single.json?id=txn%3A38814&show=attr%2Capp%2Cecospace%2Cclass%2Cref","license":"CC BY 4.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},{"name":"Wikimedia Commons","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Journal.pone.0138352.g001A.jpg","license":"CC BY 4.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},{"name":"Paleobiology Database (sample of fossil occurrences)","url":"https://paleobiodb.org/data1.2/occs/list.json?base_id=txn%3A38814&show=loc%2Cref&limit=20","license":"CC BY 4.0","license_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"}],"warnings":[],"cache":{"generated_at":"2026-10-06T00:00:19.695Z","refresh_at":"2026-10-07T00:00:00.000Z","stale":false}}