Gargoyleosaurus Gargoyleosaurus
"gargoyle lizard"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Gargoyleosaurus 3.5 m (11.5 ft) long
2 people holding hands
- Length
- 3.5 m (11.5 ft)
- Period
- Late Jurassic (163–145 Mya)
- Place
- India · Wyoming, USA
- Food
- Herbivore
Gargoyleosaurus (meaning “gargoyle lizard”) is one of the earliest ankylosaurs known from reasonably complete fossil remains. The holotype was discovered in 1995 at the Bone Cabin Quarry West locality, in Albany County, Wyoming in exposures of the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian stages) Morrison Formation.
The type species, G. parkpinorum (originally G. parkpini) was described by Ken Carpenter et al. in 1998. A mounted skeletal reconstruction of Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum can be seen at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and, alongside a couple skeletons of baby Stegosaurus, has been on display there since around 2002. Gargoyleosaurus was present in stratigraphic zone 2 of the Morrison Formation.
What we know
- Named by Carpenter et al. 1998.
- Body length estimated at about 3.5 m.
- Fossils found in India and Wyoming, USA.