Armoured dinosaur 'Scelidosaurus' finally gets recognised and a place on 'family tree'

A study published in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London revealed that the armoured dinosaur Scelidosaurus, which was unearthed in 1858, was long neglected despite the landmark nature of its discovery. The ‘tank’ dinosaur was unearthed in west Dorset, England, and it comprised the first dinosaur skeleton ever identified. Beside the incomplete papers, describing the anatomy, by British palaeontologist Richard Owen, Scelidosaurus has been neglected. 

However, that has now changed as University of Cambridge palaeontologist David Norman did a thorough research of the evolution of Scelidosaurus dinosaur’s fossil and finally gave it its due. According to the study, Norman revealed that the armoured dinosaur had unique anatomy. The researcher also placed it on the dinosaur family tree.

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The researcher said, “It is unfortunate that such an important dinosaur, discovered at such a critical time in the early study of dinosaurs, was never properly described”. 

“It has now - at last! - been described in detail and provides many new and unexpected insights concerning the biology of early dinosaurs and their underlying relationships. It seems a shame that the work was not done earlier but, as they say, better late than never,” he added. 

Norman said that Scelidosaurus, which lived nearly 193 million years ago, was an early member of the evolutionary lineage that led to the dinosaur group called ankylosaurs. The researched informed that ankylosaurs were so heavily armoured that they are dubbed as the ‘tank dinosaurs’. While the scientist noted that some ankylosaurs had a bony club at the end of their tails, he also said that it has been debated whether Scelidosaurus was ancestral to another group called stegosaurs, which is known for the bony plate on their back. 

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As per the study, Scelidosaurus was a 13-foot-long, for legged plant-eater covered in spiky, bony armour. Its face was plastered in horny scutes, which was similar to the face of marine turtle. Scelidosaurus was a moderately agile animal with defensive spines to deter predators. 

Scelidosaurus has ‘fascinating anatomies’ 

The ‘tank dinosaur is among the earliest-known members of an even larger dinosaur grouping called ornithischians, which helped provide new insights onto the group’s origin. Norman said that Scelidosaurus has a lot of ‘fascinating anatomies’. He further revealed that the dinosaur unearthed in 1858 was probably the victim of flash flood and drowning in the sea, with its body becoming buried in sediment. 

Norman said, “This animal was discovered at a crucial time in the history of dinosaur research. It was given to the man (Owen) who invented the name ‘dinosaur’ in 1842 and gave him a chance to at last demonstrate what dinosaurs really looked like. Up until that moment, dinosaurs had only been known from scraps of bone and some teeth”. 

He added, “Curiously Owen did not describe it adequately and it has lain in the collection of the Natural History Museum in London - researchers knew of it by name but it was not at all well understood”. 

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