Dino card No. 0121 of 2,027

Anoplosaurus

Say it: an-oh-plo-SORE-us

Name means: “unarmored or unarmed lizard”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosLate Cretaceous

Anoplosaurus was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in England about 100 million years ago. It was an early relative of armored dinosaurs like Ankylosaurus, but it had no armor plates on its body.1

Lived

100 to 94 million years ago2

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Cambridgeshire, England1 2

Food

Plants1 2

Length

1.5 m1

estimate based on juvenile specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 house cats nose to tailas long as 8 bananas end to end

How big was Anoplosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

The name Anoplosaurus means 'unarmored lizard' because no armor plates were found with its skeleton.1

Scientists think Anoplosaurus might have been a young animal, which could explain why it had no armor.1

For many years, some scientists thought Anoplosaurus was a type of ornithopod dinosaur, not an armored one.1

The only known fossils of Anoplosaurus were found in the Cambridge Greensand, a rock layer that formed in a shallow sea.1

Anoplosaurus was about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long, which is about the size of a large dog.1

Harry Govier Seeley named Anoplosaurus in 1879 based on a partial skeleton discovered near Reach, Cambridgeshire.1

AI-made picture of Anoplosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Anoplosaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Anoplosaurus

?How big was Anoplosaurus?

About 1.5 metres long, roughly the size of a large dog.1

?What did Anoplosaurus eat?

It was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants.1

?Did Anoplosaurus have armor?

No, its name means 'unarmored lizard' because no armor plates were found with its skeleton. Scientists think it might have been a young animal, which could explain the lack of armor.1

?When did Anoplosaurus live?

It lived about 100 million years ago, during the late Albian age of the Early Cretaceous.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Anoplosaurus was not a real dinosaur because its fossils are so incomplete.

Truth: Anoplosaurus is considered a valid genus of nodosaurid dinosaur, even though only a few bones are known.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Anoplosaurus
Named by: Seeley 18792
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Nodosauridae2
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Nodosauridae > Thyreophora2
Age of the rocks: 100 to 94 million years (Cenomanian)2
Rock formations: Upper Greensand2
Countries: United Kingdom2
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: Harry Govier Seeley named Anoplosaurus in 1879 for a partial skeleton found near Reach, Cambridgeshire, England, before 1878.1
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Anoplosaurus was a juvenile or an adult, and whether it truly lacked armor or just lost it during fossilization.1

Where the facts come from

Anoplosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Anoplosaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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