Dinosaurs A to Z
Stegosauridae

Omosaurus

Generic stegosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Omosaurus 5 m (16.4 ft) long
as long as 3 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic stegosaur body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Omosaurus
Length
5 m (16.4 ft)
Period
Late Triassic (237–201 Mya)
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Stegosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Stegosauria Stegosaurus and close relatives.

Omosaurus is a dubious genus of extinct crurotarsan reptile, possibly a phytosaur, from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of North Carolina. Only scant remains are known, which makes Omosaurus hard to classify. The type, and only species, Omosaurus perplexus, was named and described in 1856 by Joseph Leidy.

What we know

  • Named by Leidy, 1856.

What we guess

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