Dacentrurus armatus Dacentrurus

Dacentrurus (meaning “tail full of points”) is an extinct genus of stegosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic and perhaps Early Cretaceous (154–140 million years ago) of Europe. Its type species, D. armatus, was named in 1875 as Omosaurus armatus, based on a skeleton found in a clay pit in the Kimmeridge Clay in Swindon, England. In 1902 the genus was renamed Dacentrurus because the name Omosaurus had already been used for a phytosaur in 1856. After 1875, half a dozen other species would be named but perhaps only Dacentrurus armatus is valid.

Dacentrurus is among the largest known stegosaurs, measuring around 8 – 9 m long and weighing up to 5 – 7.4 MT. Finds of this animal have been limited, so much of its appearance is uncertain and its relationship with other members of the Dacentrurinae are contentious.