Dino card No. 1087 of 2,027

Loricatosaurus

Say it: lor-ih-KAT-oh-SORE-us

Name means: “armored lizard”1

Ate: PlantsPlated dinosMiddle Jurassic

Loricatosaurus was a plated dinosaur that walked on four legs and ate plants. It had bony plates and spikes on its back and tail to protect itself from hungry predators.1

Lived

165 to 162 million years ago4

Middle Jurassic

Fossils found in

England and France4 1

Food

Plants4

Length

4 to 5 m1

estimate based on partial skeletons

Weight

1.4 tonnes2

largest known specimen

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 47 big dogs

as long as 5 dogs nose to tailas long as 28 bananas end to endas heavy as 280 watermelons

How big was Loricatosaurus compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Loricatosaurus lived during the Middle Jurassic period, about 165 to 161 million years ago.4

Only two partial skeletons of Loricatosaurus have been found, one in England and one in France.1

The fossils were first thought to belong to another dinosaur called Lexovisaurus, but scientists later realized they were a different animal.1

Loricatosaurus had bony plates and spikes on its body, but scientists are not sure if it had a shoulder spike like some other stegosaurs.1

The name Loricatosaurus means 'armored lizard' in Latin and Greek.1

Loricatosaurus is a type of stegosaur, a group of plant-eating dinosaurs with plates and spikes.1

AI-made picture of Loricatosaurus — An AI-made picture of how Loricatosaurus 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 Loricatosaurus

?What did Loricatosaurus eat?

It was a herbivore, meaning it ate plants.3

?How big was Loricatosaurus?

Scientists are not sure of its exact size because only two partial skeletons have been found.3

?When did Loricatosaurus live?

It lived during the Middle Jurassic period, about 165 to 161 million years ago.1

?Where was Loricatosaurus found?

Its fossils have been found in England and France.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Loricatosaurus had a spike on its shoulder.

Truth: Scientists now believe the supposed shoulder spike is actually a tail spike.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Loricatosaurus
Named by: Maidment et al. 20084
Group: Plated dinos
Family / clade: Stegosauridae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Stegosauria > Thyreophora4
Age of the rocks: 165 to 162 million years (Callovian)4
Rock formations: Marnes à Belemnopsis latesulcatus, Oxford Clay4
Countries: France, United Kingdom4
Fossil records: 2 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: The first fossils were found in 1901 by Alfred Leeds in a brick pit in Peterborough, England. The dinosaur was named Loricatosaurus in 2008 by Susannah Maidment and her team.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Loricatosaurus is related to other stegosaurs like Stegosaurus.1

Where the facts come from

Loricatosaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Loricatosaurus priscus | Dinosaur Database by DinoAnimals.com (dinoanimals.com)
PaleoCodex :: Loricatosaurus (paleocodex.com)
Loricatosaurus 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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