Mating Stegosaurus (Illustration)

Chapter features: “In an Old Western” plans to be the third chapter of the book
Dinosaurs: A Natural History, it´s principal focus is one of the Jurassic period´s most famous
geologic record: the Morrison Formation, exploring its ecosystem and fauna.

Illustration features: The second illustration will feature a couple of Stegosaurus stenops
(Marsh, 1887) mating, and its purpose will be to show how complex their mating was due
to their ornamented back, covered with plates. Many positions have been proposed, but
this illustration is going to take a not-to-speculative one, in which the female Stegosaurus
lays down so the male can mount her. This illustration will have distorted borders and
measure 17x17 centimetres.

Idea overview:

Fig. 1. My very rough sketch of the idea. The male Stegosaurus mounts the female while it lays
down on one side. Around we can find ferns and rocks, some of the ferns being trampled by the
action of the Stegosaurus.
.
Visual references:

The dinosaurs are the principal object in this illustration. They are shown in a fern forest
glade, with some trampled vegetation around. The scene is seen from above in oblique
perspective. Although both sexes have big plates, those of the male will be more colourful.

Figs. 2, 3. Ferns in the forest. (Taken from https://www.offset.com/photos/the-cathedral-of-ferns-

is-one-of-the-few-remnants-of-extensive-tree-974536 and
https://jccwmg.org/wordpress/fabulous-ferns-for-every-garden/).
 Fig. 4. Stegosaurus by Wenyu Ren. The specimens in our
illustration can follow the plate texture in the 2022 model, as well
as the transition between them and the body, although our
colours will be different. (Taken from
https://twitter.com/ren_wenyu/status/1608855799589392385/ph
oto/1).

Figs. 5, 6. Stegosaurus mating position that will be used in the

illustration. Illustration by Patrick Redman and Gabriel Ugueto.
The specimens in our illustration can follow the plate texture in
the 2022 model, as well as the transition between them and the
body, although our colours will be different. (Taken from Isles,
2009 and
https://twitter.com/SerpenIllus/status/1338850544354471936/ph
oto/1).
 Figs. 7, 8. The yellowish colours of the frilled lizard
(Chlamydosaurus kingii) will inspire the colours of our Stegosaurus.
Just the male is going to sport the yellow on its plates. The female
will keep the dark and lights browns inspired on the lizard. (Taken
from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/february/lizard-
lifestyle-has-no-impact-on-their-biting-force.html and
http://www.oceanwideimages.com/Large-
Image.asp?pID=7265&cID=306&rp=categories%2Easp%3FcID%3
D306%26p%3D1).
Anatomical references:
Stegosaurus stenops is shorter than other Stegosaurus species, reaching a little bit more than
6 metres in length (Paul, 2016). Some have proposed that there was some sort of sexual
dimorphism in relation to the shape of the plates in males and females (Saitta, 2015),
although that hasn’t been confirmed. This illustration will show the male and the female
Stegosaurus having similar sizes and plate morphology.

Fig. 10. Stegosaurus stenops skeletal reconstruction by Scott Hartman. (Taken from
https://www.skeletaldrawing.com/ornithiscians/stegosaurus).

References:

Isles, T. E. (2009). The socio-sexual behaviour of extant archosaurs: implications for

understanding dinosaur behaviour. Historical Biology, 21(3-4), 139-214.

Marsh, O. C. (1887). Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs; Part IX, The skull
and dermal armor of Stegosaurus. American Journal of Science, 3(203), 413-417.

Paul, G. S. (2016). The Princeton field guide to dinosaurs. Princeton University Press.

Saitta, E. T. (2015). Evidence for sexual dimorphism in the plated dinosaur Stegosaurus
mjosi (Ornithischia, Stegosauria) from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of
western USA. PloS one, 10(4), e0123503.