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''Kentrosaurus'' ( ; ) is a
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of
stegosaurid Stegosauridae is a family of thyreophoran dinosaurs (armoured dinosaurs) within the suborder Stegosauria. The clade is defined as all species of dinosaurs more closely related to ''Stegosaurus'' than ''Huayangosaurus''.David B. Weishampel, Peter ...
dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23  million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
from the
Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the ...
in
Lindi Region Lindi Region (''Mkoa wa Lindi'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Sri Lanka. The regional capital is the mu ...
of
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
. The
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...
is ''K. aethiopicus'', named and described by
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Edwin Hennig in 1915. Often thought to be a "
primitive Primitive may refer to: Mathematics * Primitive element (field theory) * Primitive element (finite field) * Primitive cell (crystallography) * Primitive notion, axiomatic systems * Primitive polynomial (disambiguation), one of two concepts * Pr ...
" member of the
Stegosauria Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Euro ...
, several recent
cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived ch ...
analyses find it as more derived than many other stegosaurs, and a close relative of ''
Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur 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 fou ...
'' from the
North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, ...
within the
Stegosauridae Stegosauridae is a family of thyreophoran dinosaurs (armoured dinosaurs) within the suborder Stegosauria. The clade is defined as all species of dinosaurs more closely related to ''Stegosaurus'' than ''Huayangosaurus''.David B. Weishampel, Peter ...
. Fossils of ''K. aethiopicus'' have been found only in the
Tendaguru Formation The Tendaguru Formation, or Tendaguru Beds are a highly fossiliferous formation and Lagerstätte located in the Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. The formation represents the oldest sedimentary unit of the Mandawa Basin, overlying Neoprote ...
, dated to the late
Kimmeridgian In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxford ...
and early
Tithonian In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 152.1 ± 4 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by t ...
ages, about 152
million years ago The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...
. Hundreds of bones were unearthed by German expeditions to
German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...
between 1909 and 1912. Although no complete skeletons are known, the remains provided a nearly complete picture of the build of the animal. In the Tendaguru Formation, it coexisted with a variety of dinosaurs such as the carnivorous
theropods Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
''
Elaphrosaurus ''Elaphrosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 154 to 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period in what is now Tanzania in Africa. ''Elaphrosaurus'' was a medium-sized but lightly ...
'' and '' Veterupristisaurus,'' giant herbivorous
sauropods Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...
''
Giraffatitan ''Giraffatitan'' (name meaning "titanic giraffe") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian stages) in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. It was originally named as an African species ...
'' and '' Tornieria'', and the dryosaurid '' Dysalotosaurus.'' ''Kentrosaurus'' generally measured around in length as an adult, and weighed about . It walked on all fours with straight hindlimbs. It had a small, elongated head with a beak used to bite off plant material that would be digested in a large gut. It had a, probably double, row of small plates running down its neck and back. These plates gradually merged into spikes on the hip and tail. The longest spikes were on the tail end and were used to actively defend the animal. There also was a long spike on each shoulder. The thigh bones come in two different types, suggesting that one sex was larger and more stout than the other.


Discovery and naming

The first fossils of ''Kentrosaurus'' were discovered by the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
Tendaguru Expedition in 1909, recognised as belonging to a
stegosaur Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Euro ...
by expedition leader
Werner Janensch Werner Ernst Martin Janensch (11 November 1878 – 20 October 1969) was a German paleontologist and geologist. Biography Janensch was born at Herzberg (Elster). In addition to Friedrich von Huene, Janensch was probably Germany's most imp ...
on 24 July 1910, and described by
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Edwin Hennig in 1915. The name ''Kentrosaurus'' was coined by Hennig and comes from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
'/, meaning "sharp point" or "prickle", and '/ meaning "lizard", Hennig added the specific name ''aethiopicus'' to denote the provenance from Africa. Soon after its description, a controversy arose over the stegosaur's name, which is very similar to the
ceratopsian Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassi ...
''
Centrosaurus ''Centrosaurus'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Canada. Their remains have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation, dating from 76.5 to 75.5 million years ago. Discovery and naming Th ...
''. Under the rules of biological nomenclature, forbidding
homonymy In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones ( equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition ...
, two animals may not be given the same name. Hennig renamed his stegosaur ''Kentrurosaurus'', "pointed-tail lizard", in 1916, while Hungarian paleontologist
Franz Nopcsa Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...
renamed the genus ''Doryphorosaurus'', "lance-bearing lizard", the same year. If a renaming had been necessary, Hennig's would have had priority. However, because the spelling is different, both ''Doryphorosaurus'' and ''Kentrurosaurus'' are unneeded replacement names; ''Kentrosaurus'' remains the valid name for the genus with ''Kentrurosaurus'' and ''Doryphorosaurus'' being its junior objective synonyms. Although no complete individuals were found, some material was discovered in association, including a nearly complete tail, hip, several dorsal vertebrae and some limb elements of one individual. These form the core of a mount in the
Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major muse ...
by Janensch. The mount was dismantled during the museum renovation in 2006/2007, and re-mounted in an improved pose b
Research Casting International
Some other material, including a braincase and spine, was thought to have been misplaced or destroyed during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. However, all the supposedly lost cranial material was later found in a drawer of a basement cupboard. From 1909 onwards, ''Kentrosaurus'' remains were uncovered in four quarries in the ''Mittlere Saurierschichten'' (Middle Saurian Beds) and one quarry in the ''Obere Saurierschichten'' (Upper Saurian Beds). During four field seasons, the German Expedition found over 1200 bones of ''Kentrosaurus'', belonging to about fifty individuals, many of which were destroyed during the Second World War. Today, almost all remaining material is housed in the
Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major muse ...
Berlin (roughly 350 remaining specimens), while the museum of the Institute for Geosciences of the
University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...
houses a composite mount, roughly 50% of it being original bones. In the original description, Hennig did not designate a
holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...
specimen. However, in a detailed monography on the osteology, systematic position and palaeobiology of ''Kentrosaurus'' in 1925, Hennig picked the most complete partial skeleton, today inventorised as MB.R.4800.1 through MB.R.4800.37, as a lectotype (see
syntype In biological nomenclature, a syntype is any one of two or more biological types that is listed in a description of a taxon where no holotype was designated. Precise definitions of this and related terms for types have been established as part of ...
). This material includes a nearly complete series of tail vertebrae, several vertebrae of the back, a
sacrum The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part ...
with five sacral vertebrae and both ilia, both
femora The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with t ...
and an
ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...
, and is included in the mounted skeleton at the
Museum für Naturkunde The Natural History Museum (german: Museum für Naturkunde) is a natural history museum located in Berlin, Germany. It exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history and in such domain it is one of three major muse ...
in
Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. The type locality is Kindope,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
, north of Tendaguru hill.Janensch, W. (1925). Ein aufgestelltes skelett des stegosauriers Kentrurosaurus aethiopicus E. Hennig aus den Tendaguru-schichten Deutsch-Ostafrikas. ''Palaeontographica-Supplementbände'', 255-276. Unaware that Hennig had already defined a lectotype,
Peter Galton Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosau ...
selected two dorsal vertebrae, specimens MB.R.1930 and MB.R.1931, from the material figured in Hennig's 1915 description, as 'holotypes'. This definition of a holotype is not valid, because Hennig's selection has priority. In 2011,
Heinrich Mallison Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of p ...
clarified that all the material known to Hennig in 1915, i.e. all the bones discovered before 1912, when
Hermann Heck Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, Mis ...
concluded the last German excavations, are paralectotypes, and that MB.R.4800 is the correct lectotype.


Description

''Kentrosaurus'' was a small stegosaur. It had the typical
dinosaurian Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23  million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
body
bauplan A body plan, ( ), or ground plan is a set of morphological features common to many members of a phylum of animals. The vertebrates share one body plan, while invertebrates have many. This term, usually applied to animals, envisages a "bluep ...
, characterised by a small head, a long neck, short forelimbs and long hindlimbs, and a long, horizontal and muscular tail. Typical
stegosaurid Stegosauridae is a family of thyreophoran dinosaurs (armoured dinosaurs) within the suborder Stegosauria. The clade is defined as all species of dinosaurs more closely related to ''Stegosaurus'' than ''Huayangosaurus''.David B. Weishampel, Peter ...
traits included the elongation and flatness of the head, the powerful build of the forelimbs, erect and pillar-like hindlimbs and an array of plates and spikes running along both sides of the top mid-line of the animal.


Size and posture

''Kentrosaurus aethiopicus'' was a relatively small stegosaur, reaching in length and in body mass. Some specimens suggest that relatively larger individuals could have existed. These specimens are comparable to some ''
Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur 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 fou ...
'' specimens in terms of the olecranon process in development. The long tail of ''Kentrosaurus'' results in a position of the center of mass that is unusually far back for a
quadrupedal Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion where four limbs are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four limbs is said to be a quadruped (from Latin ''quattuo ...
animal. It rests just in front of the hip, a position usually seen in
bipedal Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' ...
dinosaurs. However, the
femora The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with t ...
are straight in ''Kentrosaurus'', as opposed to typical bipeds, indicating a straight and vertical limb position. Thus, the hindlimbs, though powered by massive thigh muscles attached to a long
ilium Ilium or Ileum may refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Ilion (Asia Minor), former name of Troy * Ilium (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium, ancient name of Cestria (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium Building, a ...
, did not support the animal alone, and the very robust forelimbs took up 10 to 15% of the bodyweight. The center of mass was not heavily modified by the
osteoderms Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct ...
(bony structures in skin) in ''Kentrosaurus'' or ''Stegosaurus'', which allowed the animals to stay mobile despite their armament. The hindlimbs’ thigh muscles were very powerful, allowing ''Kentrosaurus'' to reach a tripod stance on its hindlegs and tail.


Skull and dentition

Eight specimens from the skull, mandible, and teeth have been collected an described from the Tendaguru Formation, most of them being isolated elements.Galton, P. M. (1988)
Skull bones and endocranial casts of stegosaurian dinosaur Kentrosaurus Hennig, 1915 from Upper Jurassic of Tanzania, East Africa.
''Geologica et Palaeontologica'', ''22'', 123-143.
Two quadrates (bones from the jaw joint) were referred to ''Kentrosaurus'', but they instead belong to a juvenile
brachiosaurid The Brachiosauridae ("arm lizards", from Greek ''brachion'' (βραχίων) = "arm" and ''sauros'' = "lizard") are a family (biology), family or clade of herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaurs. Brachiosaurids had long necks that enabled the ...
. The long and narrow
skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, t ...
was small in proportion to the body. It had a small
antorbital fenestra An antorbital fenestra (plural: fenestrae) is an opening in the skull that is in front of the eye sockets. This skull character is largely associated with archosauriforms, first appearing during the Triassic Period. Among extant archosaurs, birds ...
, the hole between the nose and eye common to most
archosaurs Archosauria () is a clade of diapsids, with birds and crocodilians as the only living representatives. Archosaurs are broadly classified as reptiles, in the cladistic sense of the term which includes birds. Extinct archosaurs include non-avia ...
, including modern birds, though lost in extant crocodylians. The skull's low position suggests that ''Kentrosaurus'' may have been a browser of low-growing vegetation. This interpretation is supported by the absence of premaxillary teeth and their likely replacement by a horny beak or rhamphotheca. The presence of a beak extended along much of the jaws may have precluded the presence of cheeks in stegosaurs. Due to its phylogenetic position, it is unlikely that ''Kentrosaurus'' had an extensive beak like ''Stegosaurus'' and it instead probably had a beak restricted to the jaw tips.Barrett, P.M. (2001). Tooth wear and possible jaw action of ''Scelidosaurus harrisonii'' Owen and a review of feeding mechanisms in other thyreophoran dinosaurs. Pp. 25-52 in Carpenter, K. (ed.): ''The Armored Dinosaurs''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Other researchers have interpreted these ridges as modified versions of similar structures in other ornithischians which might have supported fleshy cheeks, rather than beaks. There are two nearly complete
braincases In human anatomy, the neurocranium, also known as the braincase, brainpan, or brain-pan is the upper and back part of the skull, which forms a protective case around the brain. In the human skull, the neurocranium includes the calvaria or skul ...
known from ''Kentrosaurus'' though they exhibit some taphonomic distortion. The frontals and parietals are flat and broad, with the latter bearing two transversely concave ventral sides with a ridge running down the middle that divides them. The lateral surface of the frontals form part of the
orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such a ...
(eye socket) and the medial side creates the anterior part of the endocranial cavity (braincase). Basioccipitals (where the skull articulated with the cervical vertebrae) form the posterior floor of the brain and the
occipital condyle The occipital condyles are undersurface protuberances of the occipital bone in vertebrates, which function in articulation with the superior facets of the atlas vertebra. The condyles are oval or reniform (kidney-shaped) in shape, and their anteri ...
, which is large and spherical in ''Kentrosaurus''. The rest of the braincase is formed by the presphenoid composing the anterior end. The overall braincase morphology is very similar to those of ''
Tuojiangosaurus ''Tuojiangosaurus'' (meaning "Tuo River lizard") is a genus of herbivorous stegosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Period, recovered from the Upper Shaximiao Formation of what is now Sichuan Province in China. Description ''Tuojiangosa ...
'', ''
Huayangosaurus ''Huayangosaurus'' is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China. The name derives from "Huayang" (華陽), an alternate name for Sichuan (the province where it was discovered), and "saurus", meaning "lizard". It lived du ...
'', and ''
Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur 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 fou ...
''. However, the occipital condyle is a closer distance to the basisphenoid tubera (bone at the front of the braincase) in ''Kentrosaurus'' and ''Huayangosaurus'' than in ''Tuojiangosaurus'' and some specimens of ''Stegosaurus''. Due to dinosaurs having more molding in their braincases,
endocasts An endocast is the internal cast of a hollow object, often referring to the cranial vault in the study of brain development in humans and other organisms. Endocasts can be artificially made for examining the properties of a hollow, inaccessible sp ...
of ''Kentrosaurus'' can be reconstructed using the preserved fossils. The brain is relatively short, deep, and small, with a strong
cerebral Cerebral may refer to: * Of or relating to the brain * Cerebrum, the largest and uppermost part of the brain * Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the cerebrum * Retroflex consonant, also referred to as a cerebral consonant, a type of consonant so ...
and
pontine flexures Three flexures form in the part of the embryonic neural tube that develops into the brain. At four weeks gestational age in the human embryo the neural tube has developed at the cranial end into three swellings – the primary brain vesicles. ...
and a steeply inclined posterodorsal edge when compared to those of other ornithischians. There is a small dorsal projection in the endocast where an unossified (lacking bone) region between the top of the supraoccipital (bone at the top-back of the braincase) and overlying parietal that was likely covered in cartilage. This characteristic is seen in other ornithischians. Because of the prominent flexures, many of the aspects of the brain can only be interpreted by the present structures. In the
mandible In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bon ...
(lower jaw), only an incomplete right dentary is known from ''Kentrosaurus''. The deep dentary is almost identical in shape to that of ''Stegosaurus'', albeit much smaller. Similarly, the tooth is a typical stegosaurian tooth, small with a widened base and vertical grooves creating five ridges. The dentary has 13 preserved alvelovi on the dorsomedial side and it they are slightly convex in lateral and dorsal views. On the surface adjacent to the alveoli, there is a shallow groove bearing small
foramina In anatomy and osteology, a foramen (;Entry "foramen"
in
(small openings in bone) that is similar to grooves on the dentary of the
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
neornithischian ''
Hypsilophodon ''Hypsilophodon'' (; meaning "''Hypsilophus''-tooth") is a neornithischian dinosaur genus from the Early Cretaceous period of England. It has traditionally been considered an early member of the group Ornithopoda, but recent research has put this ...
'', with one foramina per tooth position. Stegosaurian teeth were small, triangular, and flat; wear facets show that they did grind their food. A single complete cheek tooth is preserved, with a large crown and long root. The crown notably has fewer marginal denticles and a prominent cingulum compared to ''Stegosaurus'', ''Tuojiangosaurus'', and ''Huayangosaurus''.


Postcrania

The neck was composed of 13
cervical In anatomy, cervical is an adjective that has two meanings: # of or pertaining to any neck. # of or pertaining to the female cervix: i.e., the ''neck'' of the uterus. *Commonly used medical phrases involving the neck are **cervical collar **cervic ...
(neck) vertebrae, the first being the
atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...
which was strongly fused to the occipital region of the skull and followed by the
axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
. The other 11 cervicals had hourglass-shaped centra (the base of a vertebra) and rounded ventral keels. The
diapophyses The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...
are large and strongly angled posteriorily and parallel to each other. The spinous processes got larger towards the posterior end, while the postzygapophyses became smaller and less horizontal, giving the anterior part of the neck lots of mobility laterally. The dorsal column consists of 13
dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal co ...
(back) vertebrae which are tall and have short centra. The have a
neural arch The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
more than twice as high as the centrum, the vertebral body, and almost completely occupied by the extremely spacious
neural canal In the developing chordate (including vertebrates), the neural tube is the embryonic precursor to the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain and spinal cord. The neural groove gradually deepens as the neural fold become elevated, a ...
, a trait unique to ''Kentrosaurus.'' The diapophyses too were laterally elongated, creating a Y-shape in anterior view. The
sacrum The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part ...
(part of pelvis with vertebrae) consists of 6 fused centra, the first being a loose sacrodorsal, while the rest of the centra’s
transverse processes The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
(extensions of bone) are fused to the dorsal parts of the sacral ribs into a solid sacral plate. The ribs also fuse to the
ilium Ilium or Ileum may refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Ilion (Asia Minor), former name of Troy * Ilium (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium, ancient name of Cestria (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium Building, a ...
(the upper part of the pelvis) creating a fully ankylosed and solid sacrum. The ilium is notable in that the preacetabular process, front blade, of the
ilium Ilium or Ileum may refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Ilion (Asia Minor), former name of Troy * Ilium (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium, ancient name of Cestria (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium Building, a ...
widens laterally, to the front outer side, and does not taper unlike in all other stegosaurs. Another characteristic is that the length of the ilium equals, or is greater than, that of the thigh bone. The
caudal Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...
(tail) vertebrae are 29 in number, though 27-29 are coossified for attachment to the thagomizers (tail spikes). The caudal vertebrae are very unique, as they have a combination of transverse processes up to the 28th vertebra and rod-shaped processes on the posterior caudals. These posterior caudal processes have narrow bases that do not tough the plate formed by the fusion of the processes of the sacral vertebrae. ''Kentrosaurus'' can be distinguished from other members of the
Stegosauria Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Euro ...
by a number of processes of the vertebrae, which in the tail do not run sub-parallel, as in most dinosaurs. In the front third of the tail, they point backwards, the usual direction. In the middle tail, however, they are almost vertical, and further back they are hook-shaped and point obliquely forward. The
chevrons Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock l ...
, bones pointing to below from the bottom side of the tail vertebrae, have the shape of an inverted T. The
scapula The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eithe ...
(shoulder blade) is sub-rectangular, with a robust blade. Though it is not always perfectly preserved, the
acromion In human anatomy, the acromion (from Greek: ''akros'', "highest", ''ōmos'', "shoulder", plural: acromia) is a bony process on the scapula (shoulder blade). Together with the coracoid process it extends laterally over the shoulder joint. The ac ...
ridge is slightly smaller than in ''Stegosaurus''. The blade is relatively straight, although it curves towards the back. There is a small bump on the back of the blade, that would have served as the base of the
triceps The triceps, or triceps brachii (Latin for "three-headed muscle of the arm"), is a large muscle on the back of the upper limb of many vertebrates. It consists of 3 parts: the medial, lateral, and long head. It is the muscle principally responsib ...
muscle. The
coracoid A coracoid (from Greek κόραξ, ''koraks'', raven) is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is pre ...
is sub-circular. The fore limbs were much shorter than the stocky hind limbs, which resulted in an unusual posture. The
humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...
(upper arm bone), like other stegosaurs, has greatly expanded proximal and distal ends that were attachment points between the coracoid and
ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...
-
radius In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...
(forearm bones) respectively. The radius was larger than the ulna and had a wedge-shaped proximal end. The manus (hand) was small and had five toes with 2 toes bearing only a single phalange. The hindlimbs were much larger and too are similar to those of other stegosaurs. The
femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...
(thigh bone) is the longest element in the body, with the largest known femur measuring 665 mm from the proximal to distal end. The
tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
(shin bone) was wide and robust, while the fibula was skinny and thin without a greatly expanded distal end. The pes (foot) terminated in 3 toes, all of which had hoof-like unguals (claws).Hennig, E. (1925). Kentrurosaurus aethiopicus; die Stegosaurierfunde vom Tendaguru, Deutsch-Ostafrika. ''Palaeontographica-Supplementbände'', 101-254.


Armour

Typically for a stegosaur, ''Kentrosaurus'' had extensive
osteoderm Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinc ...
(bony structures in the skin) covering, including small plates (probably located on the neck and anterior trunk), and spikes of various shapes. The spikes of ''Kentrosaurus'' are very elongated, with one specimen having a bone core length of 731 millimetres. The plates have a thickened section in the middle, as if they were modified spines. The spikes and plates were likely covered by horn. Aside from a few exceptions they were not found in close association with other skeletal remains. Thus, the exact position of most
osteoderms Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct ...
is uncertain. A pair of closely spaced spikes was found articulated with a tail tip, and a number of spikes were found apparently regularly spaced in pairs along the path of an articulated tail. Hennig and Janensch, while grouping the dermal armour elements into four distinct types, recognised an apparently continuous change of shape among them, shorter and flatter plates at the front gradually merging into longer and more pointed spikes towards the rear, suggesting an uninterrupted distribution along the entire body, in fifteen pairs. Because each type of osteoderm was found in mirrored left and right versions, it seems probable that all types of osteoderms were distributed in two rows along the back of the animal, a marked contrast to the better-known North American ''Stegosaurus'', which had one row of plates on the neck, trunk and tail, and two rows of spikes on the tail tip. There is one type of spike that differs from all others in being strongly, and not only slightly, asymmetrical, and having a very broad base. Because of bone
morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
classic reconstructions placed it on the hips, at the iliac blade, while many recent reconstructions place it on the shoulder, because a similarly shaped spike is known to have existed on the shoulder in the Chinese stegosaurs ''
Gigantspinosaurus ''Gigantspinosaurus'' () is a genus of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur from the Middle to Late Jurassic. It was a stegosaur found in China. Discovery The first fossil was found in 1985 by Ouyang Hui at Pengtang near Jinquan and was re ...
'' and ''
Huayangosaurus ''Huayangosaurus'' is a genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China. The name derives from "Huayang" (華陽), an alternate name for Sichuan (the province where it was discovered), and "saurus", meaning "lizard". It lived du ...
''.


Classification and species

Like the spikes and shields of ankylosaurs, the bony plates and spines of stegosaurians evolved from the low-keeled osteoderms characteristic of basal thyreophorans.Norman, David (2001). "''Scelidosaurus'', the earliest complete dinosaur" in ''The Armored Dinosaurs'', pp 3-24. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. .
Galton Sir Francis Galton, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psycholo ...
(2019) interpreted plates of an armored dinosaur from the
Lower Jurassic The Early Jurassic Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, 201.3 Ma&nbs ...
(
Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian an ...
-
Pliensbachian The Pliensbachian is an age of the geologic timescale and stage in the stratigraphic column. It is part of the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series and spans the time between 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma and 182.7 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The ...
) Lower
Kota Formation The Kota Formation is a geological formation in India. The precise age of Kota Formation are uncertain, but it dates from the Early to Middle Jurassic, and is split into a Lower Member and Upper Member.Prasad GVR, and Manhas BK. 2007A new docodont ...
of
India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
as fossils of a member of
Ankylosauria Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs ...
; the author argued that this finding indicates a probable early Early Jurassic origin for both Ankylosauria and its
sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...
Stegosauria. The vast majority of stegosaurian dinosaurs thus far recovered belong to the
Stegosauridae Stegosauridae is a family of thyreophoran dinosaurs (armoured dinosaurs) within the suborder Stegosauria. The clade is defined as all species of dinosaurs more closely related to ''Stegosaurus'' than ''Huayangosaurus''.David B. Weishampel, Peter ...
, which lived in the later part of the Jurassic and early Cretaceous, and which were defined by
Paul Sereno Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic "explorer-in-residence" who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites ...
as all stegosaurians more closely related to ''Stegosaurus'' than to ''Huayangosaurus''. This group is widespread, with members across the Northern Hemisphere,
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and possibly
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
. The South American remains come from
Chubut Chubut may refer to: * Chubut Province, Argentina * Chubut River in the Chubut Province * Chubut steamer duck The Chubut steamer duck or white-headed flightless steamer duck (''Tachyeres leucocephalus'') is a flightless duck endemic to Argenti ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...
and consist only of a partial humerus, but the anatomy of the humerus is very similar to that of ''Kentrosaurus'' and both date to the Late Jurassic. In a phylogenetic analysis, the Chubut stegosaurid was recovered in polytomy with ''Kentrosaurus'' as basal stegosaurids, further suggesting that they are closely related. In Hennig’s 1915 description, ''Kentrosaurus'' was assigned to the family
Stegosauridae Stegosauridae is a family of thyreophoran dinosaurs (armoured dinosaurs) within the suborder Stegosauria. The clade is defined as all species of dinosaurs more closely related to ''Stegosaurus'' than ''Huayangosaurus''.David B. Weishampel, Peter ...
due to the preservation of dermal armor and features like posterodorsally angled neural spines on the caudal vertebrae. This is confirmed by modern
cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived ch ...
analyses, although in 1915 Stegosauridae was a far more inclusive concept that included some taxa now classified as ankylosaurs. A consecutive narrowing down of this concept caused ''Kentrosaurus'', until the 1980s to be seen as a typical "primitive" stegosaurian, to be placed in a more derived, higher, position in the stegosaur evolutionary tree. However, recent analyses have consistently found ''Kentrosaurus'' to be in Stegosauridae, though typically as one of the most basal genera in the family. ''Kentrosaurus'' has many traits not seen in other stegosaurids but seen in basal stegosaurians, such as the presence of a parascapular spine and maxillary teeth with only seven denticles at the margin. Cladogram of Stegosauria below that includes nearly every known stegosaur genus, recovering ''Kentrosaurus'' as a basal stegosaurid: The
type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...
and sole accepted species of ''Kentrosaurus'' is ''Kentrosaurus aethiopicus'', named by Hennig in 1915. Fragmentary fossil material from Wyoming, named ''Stegosaurus longispinus'' by Charles Gilmore in 1914, was in 1993 classified as a North American species of ''Kentrosaurus'', as ''K. longispinus''. However, this action was not accepted by the paleontological community, and ''S. longispinus'' has been assigned to its own genus, '' Alcovasaurus'', differing from ''Kentrosaurus'' in having more elongated tail spikes and the structure of the pelvis and vertebrae. Cladogram of the phylogenetic analysis of Stegosauridae conducted by Maidment ''et al'' (2019), which recovers a distinct ''Alcovasaurus'':


Paleobiology


Feeding

Like all
ornithischia Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek ...
ns, ''Kentrosaurus'' was a
herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthp ...
. The fodder was barely chewed and swallowed in large chunks. One hypothesis on stegosaurid diet holds that they were low-level browsers, eating foliage and low-growing fruit from various non-flowering plants. ''Kentrosaurus'' was capable of eating at heights of up to when on all fours. It may also have been possible for it to rear up on its hindlegs to reach vegetation higher in trees. With its centre of mass close to the hind-limbs, the animal could potentially support itself as it stood up. The hips were likely capable of allowing a vertical trunk rotation of about 60 degrees and the tail probably would either have been fully lifted, not blocking this movement or have enough curvature to rest on the ground; thus it could have provided additional support, though precisely because of this flexibility it is not certain whether much support was actually provided: it was not stiff enough to function as a "third leg" as had been suggested by Robert Thomas Bakker. In this pose, ''Kentrosaurus'' could have fed at heights of .


Sexual dimorphism

Differences in the proportions, not the size, of the femurs (thighbones) led
Holly Barden ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergree ...
and
Susannah Maidment Susannah Catherine Rose Maidment is a British palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, London. She is internationally recognised for her research on ornithischian dinosaur evolution, and was awarded the 2016 Hodson Award of the Palaeontolo ...
to realize that ''Kentrosaurus'' probably showed
sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most an ...
. This dimorphism of the femurs consisted in them being either more or less robust than the other. The occurrence ratio of the robust morph to the gracile one was 2:1, and it is likely that the higher percentage of animals were females. Because of this ratio, it was considered reasonable to assume that in their society, ''Kentrosaurus'' males mated with more than one female, a behaviour also found in other vertebrates. The problem posed by the ratio is that the multiple specimens studied, died in the same place, but probably not in a sudden mass-death and so do not represent a single herd or contemporary population. The results may have been distorted by a greater chance for robust animals of getting fossilised or discovered. In an earlier study by Galton in 1982, it was suggested that individual difference in the sacral rib count of both ''Kentrosaurus'' and ''Dacentrurus'' might be an indication of dimorphism: females would have had an extra pair of sacral ribs, having also the first sacral vertebra connected to the ilium, in addition to the subsequent four sacrals.


Reproduction and growth

As the plates and spikes would have been obstacles during copulation, it is possible that pairs mated back-to-back with the female staying still in a lordosis posture as the male maneuvers his penis into her
cloaca In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds ...
. The shoulder spikes would have made the female unable to lie on her side during mating as is proposed for ''Stegosaurus''. In 2013, a study by
Ragna Redelstorff Ragna is a feminine given name. It may refer to: * Ragna Ahlbäck (1914–2002) was a Finnish ethnographer and archivist * Ragna Debats (born 1979), Dutch snowshoe runner, trail runner and sky runner * Ragna Flotve (born 1960), Norwegian politicia ...
e.a. concluded that the bone
histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vi ...
of ''Kentrosaurus'' indicated that it had a higher growth rate than reported for ''Stegosaurus'' and ''
Scutellosaurus ''Scutellosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of thyreophoran ornithischian dinosaur that lived approximately 196 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now Arizona, USA. It is classified in Thyreophora, the armoured din ...
'', in view of the relatively rapid deposition of highly vascularised fibrolamellar bone. As ''Stegosaurus'' was larger than ''Kentrosaurus'', this contradicts the general rule that larger dinosaurs grew quicker than smaller ones.


Defence

Because the tail had at least forty caudal vertebrae, it was highly mobile. It could possibly swing at an arc of 180 degrees, covering the entire half circle behind it. Swing speeds at the tail end may have been as high as 50 km/h. Continuous rapid swings would have allowed the spikes to slash open the skin of its attacker or to stab the soft tissues and break the ribs or facial bones. More directed blows would have resulted in the sides of the spikes fracturing even sturdy longbones of the legs by blunt trauma. These attacks would have crippled small and medium-sized theropods and may even have done some damage to large ones. Earlier interpretations of the defensive behaviour of ''Kentrosaurus'' included the suggestion that the animal might have charged to the rear, to run through attackers with its spines, in the way of modern porcupines. Though ''Kentrosaurus'' likely stood with forelimbs erect like in other dinosaurs, it is hypothesised that the animal adopted a sprawling posture when defending itself. Its neck was flexible enough to allow it to keep sight of predators, as it could reach the sides of its body with its snout and look over the back. In addition, the posterior position of the center of mass may not have been advantageous for rapid locomotion, but meant that the animal could quickly rotate around the hips by pushing sideways with the arms, keeping the tail pointed at the attacker. ''Kentrosaurus'' was nevertheless not invulnerable. A quick predator could have made it to the tail base (where the impact speed would be much lower) when the tail passed and the neck and upper-part of the body would have been unprotected by the tail swings. A successful predation of ''Kentrosaurus'' may have required group hunting. Compared to the more robust spikes of ''Stegosaurus'', the thinner spikes of ''Kentrosaurus'' were at greater risk of bending.


Paleoecology

''Kentrosaurus'' lived in what is now Tanzania in the
Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the ...
Tendaguru Formation The Tendaguru Formation, or Tendaguru Beds are a highly fossiliferous formation and Lagerstätte located in the Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. The formation represents the oldest sedimentary unit of the Mandawa Basin, overlying Neoprote ...
. The main ''Kentrosaurus'' quarries were located in the Middle Saurian Beds dating from the upper Kimmeridgian. Some remains were found in the Upper Saurian Beds dating from the Tithonian. Since 2012, the boundary between the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian is dated at 152.1 million year ago. The Tendaguru
ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...
primarily consisted of three types of environment: shallow, lagoon-like marine environments, tidal flats and low coastal environments; and vegetated inland environments. The marine environment existed above the fair weather wave base and behind
siliciclastic Siliciclastic (or ''siliclastic'') rocks are clastic noncarbonate sedimentary rocks that are composed primarily of silicate minerals, such as quartz or clay minerals. Siliciclasic rock types include mudrock, sandstone, and conglomerate Conglome ...
and
ooid Ooids are small (commonly ≤2 mm in diameter), spheroidal, "coated" (layered) sedimentary grains, usually composed of calcium carbonate, but sometimes made up of iron- or phosphate-based minerals. Ooids usually form on the sea floor, mo ...
barriers. It appeared to have had little change in salinity levels and experienced tides and storms. The coastal environments consisted of
brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
coastal lakes, ponds and pools. These environments had little vegetation and were probably visited by herbivorous dinosaurs mostly during droughts. The well vegetated inlands were dominated by
conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ex ...
s. Overall, the Late Jurassic Tendaguru climate was subtropical to tropical with seasonal rains and pronounced dry periods. During the
Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous ( chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145  Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Pr ...
, the Tendaguru became more humid. The Tendaguru Beds are similar to the
Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, ...
of North America except in its marine interbeds. ''Kentrosaurus'' would have coexisted with fellow ornithischians like '' Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki''; the
sauropod Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their ...
s ''
Giraffatitan ''Giraffatitan'' (name meaning "titanic giraffe") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian stages) in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. It was originally named as an African species ...
brancai'', ''
Dicraeosaurus ''Dicraeosaurus'' (Gr. , ' "bifurcated, double-headed" + Gr. , ' "lizard") is a genus of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania during the late Jurassic period. The genus was named for the neural spines on ...
hansemanni'' and ''D. sattleri'', '' Janenschia africana'', '' Tendaguria'' ''tanzaniensis'' and '' Tornieria africanus'';
theropod Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally ...
s "
Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alludi ...
" ''tendagurensis'', "Ceratosaurus" ''roechlingi'', "Ceratosaurus" ''ingens,'' ''
Elaphrosaurus ''Elaphrosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 154 to 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic Period in what is now Tanzania in Africa. ''Elaphrosaurus'' was a medium-sized but lightly ...
bambergi'', '' Veterupristisaurus milneri'' and ''
Ostafrikasaurus ''Ostafrikasaurus'' is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period of what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. It is known only from fossil teeth discovered sometime between 1909 and 1912, during an expedition to the Tendaguru Formatio ...
crassiserratus''; and the
pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the Order (biology), order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cre ...
''
Tendaguripterus ''Tendaguripterus'' was a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Kimmeridgian to Tithonian-age Upper Jurassic Middle Saurian Beds (Tendaguru Formation) of Tendaguru, Lindi Region, Tanzania. Discovery and naming During the German paleontolog ...
recki''. Other organisms that inhabited the Tendaguru included
coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secre ...
s, echinoderms, cephalopods, bivalves, gastropods, Decapoda, decapods, sharks, Neopterygii, neopterygian fish, crocodilians and small mammals like ''Brancatherulum tendagurensis''.


See also

* Timeline of stegosaur research


Notes


References


External links


Stegosauria
from Thescelosaurus.com (Includes details on ''Kentrosaurus'', its junior synonyms, and other material) {{Good article Stegosaurs Fossil taxa described in 1915 Taxa named by Edwin Hennig Late Jurassic dinosaurs of Africa Tendaguru fauna Ornithischian genera