Thyreophora

British Museum of Natural History 1

 Scelidosaurus (Early Jurassic, Ireland)

modified from Scott Hartman 2

 vertebrate embryo development
24 hour chicken embryo midlength cross section

ectoderm mesoderm endoderm notochord neural tube

somite
3
 postcranial dermal bone

Ceratophrys cranwelli (MCZ A-149532) 4

 osteoderms
Develop as dermal bones and remain embedded in skin
Can be patterned or unpatterned with respect to the body

Heloderma

Crocodylus

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 5

 6
H Larsson
José Avila Cervantes Mexican Crocodylus acutus-morletti project

7
 8
H Larsson
 bone development | dermal condensation

Ossification, direct via osteocytes

- no cartilage precursor
keratin
dermis
bone
Vickaryous & Hall 2008 9
 Thyreophora

British Museum of Natural History 10

Dinosauria
phylogeny

11
 Ornithischia
Genasauria (& Ornithischia?)
- predentary

Genasauria
- cheeks
- enlarged coronoid process on mandible

Sereno 2012 12
 Thyreophora
Thyreophora

Scott Hartman

Heterodontosauridae

Pisanosaurus
Lesothosaurus
Sereno 2012

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Thyreophora (Early Jurassic – Late Cretaceous)
Ankylosauria

Stegosauria

basal taxa
global distribution

14
 Diversity of Animals through time
end Triassic extinction (one of the big 5)
Tr-J

Sepkoski 1990 15
Extensive seafloor spreading in Cretaceous
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province

Jurassic

Triassic
16
 Kill mechanisms of the end-Triassic

Fox et al. 2022 17

 Dinosaur diversity through the Mesozoic

Tr-J
Ornithischia
Dinosaur bearing formations

Theropoda

Sauropodomorpha

Barrett et al. 2009 18

 Scutellosaurus (Early Jurassic, Arizona)

Scott Hartman 19
 Scelidosaurus (Early Jurassic, Ireland)

~ 4m long, 400 kg
First quadrupedal ornithishian

Scott Hartman 20
 Dinosaur body size evolution

Benson et al. 2014 21

 Dinosaur body size evolution

Benson et al. 2014 22

 Stegosauria

Stegosaurus

Kentrosaurus
Less than 20 species
EJ – EK
Global

Huayangosaurus

Scott Hartman 23
 the thagomizer

Gary Larson Alain Beneteau 24

Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

25
Kentrosaurus in the Berlin Museum

26
 Kentrosaurus tail biomechanics
~ 15 kN / cm2 impact force!
our skull fractures at about 4kN / cm2

Mallison 2011 27
 weaponized tails
extant extinct

Arbour & Zanno 2018 28

 weaponized tails

Enlarged caudal transverse processes

Caudals fuse to osteoderms
Osteoderms tip tail
Stiff thorax

Arbour & Zanno 2018 29

Stegosauria | Stegosaurus (Late Jurassic, USA)

dorsal vertebra
anterior view
30
 Miragaia | Stegosaurus (Late Jurassic, Portugal)

17 cervical vertebra!

Only case of an elongated neck in

the entire Thyreophoran radiation

Mateus et al. 2009 31

 Alligator osteoderm
osteoderms for thermoregulation

vascular canals
1 cm

Caiman basking (25C air temp)

10 cm

Farlow et al. 2010 32

 Stegosauria skulls | Stegosaurus (Late Jurassic, USA)
Small teeth,premaxilla beaked
Bony ridges on upper & lower jaw indicate cheek pouches
Antorbital fenestra reduced to a slit

British museum of Natural History 33

 Stegosauria
Bony ridges on upper & lower jaw indicate cheek pouches
Antorbital fenestra reduced to a slit
Tall neural arches
Thagomizer
Vertical plate-like osteoderms
Prominent shoulder dermal spikes
Long hindlimbs (~ 2x longer than forelimbs)
Knees with small range of motion (‘stiff’)

Scott Hartman 34
 summary

Thyreophora originated after the end Triassic extinction

Thyreophora re-evolve dermal armour and were the first ornithischians to evolve large body size
(tons)

Stegosauria spread globally throughout the Jurassic and were replaced by Ankylosauria
during the Early Cretaceous

Stegosauria have relatively small skulls, simple dentition, shorter forelimbs than hindlimbs,
stiff knees, paired osteodermal plates running down their backs,
a tail tipped with a thagomizer

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