Dinosaurs A to Z
Nodosauridae

Gargoyleosaurus

"gargoyle lizard"

Generic ankylosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Gargoyleosaurus 3.5 m (11.5 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ankylosaur body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Gargoyleosaurus
Length
3.5 m (11.5 ft)
Period
Late Jurassic (163–145 Mya)
Place
India · Wyoming, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Nodosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Ankylosauria Ankylosaurs without the tail club.

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.

What we guess

The reconstruction notes for Gargoyleosaurus — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.