Dinosaurs A to Z
Ankylosauridae

Scolosaurus

"pointed stake"

Generic ankylosaur body-plan outline
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Scolosaurus 5.6 m (18.4 ft) long
as long as 4 people standing fingertip to fingertip
generic ankylosaur body plan, scaled to length — not a silhouette of Scolosaurus
Length
5.6 m (18.4 ft)
Period
Late Cretaceous (76.5–74 Mya)
Place
United States · Canada · Alberta, Canada · Montana, USA
Food
Herbivore
Clade
Ankylosauridae Dinosauria Ornithischia Thyreophora Ankylosauria Club-tailed armored herbivores.
Scolosaurus reconstruction by Benwrops
Reconstruction · Benwrops (CC-BY)

Scolosaurus is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the lower levels of the Dinosaur Park Formation and upper levels of the Oldman Formation in the Late Cretaceous (latest middle Campanian stage, about 76.5 Ma ago) of Alberta, Canada. The genus contains two species, S. cutleri and S. thronus. The type species, S. cutleri, measured up to 5.6 m in length and 2.2 MT in body mass.

The genus was once believed to represent a synonym of the coeval Euoplocephalus, but this is no longer thought to be the case, and Scolosaurus is now accepted as a valid taxon. Some researchers have considered the genus Oohkotokia, known from the also Campanian-aged Two Medicine Formation of Montana, United States, to be synonymous with Scolosaurus.

What we know

  • Named by Nopcsa, 1928.
  • Body length estimated at about 5.6 m.
  • Fossils found in United States and Canada.

What we guess

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