Kentrosaurus

Kentrosaurus
Kentrosaurus, Hennig, 1915

number on the map: 20

Superorder: Dinosauria
Clade: Ornithischia

Kentrosaurus was one of the smaller representatives of the family Stegosauridae. Its name literally means “spiked lizard” and is owed to the body structure characteristic of stegosaurid dinosaurs – including spikes placed along the body at the height of the shoulder blades and on the tail. Kentrosaurus also had triangular bone plates on the back, which were probably covered with skin well-supplied with blood and used for thermoregulation. The first fossilised Kentrosaurus remains were found in Tanzania in 1909 and described by Edwin Hennig in 1915, when he added the specific name aethiopicus to the generic name Kentrosaurus so as to emphasise African origin.

body length: 8–10 m
body mass: 1 500 kg
temporal range: ca. 70 mya