Dino card No. 1594 of 2,027

Sauroplites

Say it: SAW-roh-plie-teez

Name means: “saurian hoplite, meaning lizard armed foot soldier”1

Ate: PlantsArmoured dinosEarly Cretaceous

Sauroplites was an armoured dinosaur that walked on four legs and ate plants. Its back and hips were covered with a shield made of bony plates, like a suit of armour. It lived in what is now Inner Mongolia, China, during the Early Cretaceous period.1 4

Lived

121 to 113 million years ago4

Early Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Inner Mongolia, China1 2

Food

Plants4

Length

5.5 m3

Height

1.6 m3

at the hips

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the hips

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 31 bananas end to endup to the handle of a door

How big was Sauroplites compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Sauroplites had a special shield on its hips made of fused rosettes. Each rosette had one large central bony plate surrounded by a single ring of smaller plates. No other armoured dinosaur had this exact pattern.1 2

The largest bony plates on its back could be up to 40 centimetres (about 16 inches) long. The plates on its sides were about 30 centimetres (12 inches) across.1

The fossils of Sauroplites were discovered in 1930 by Swedish paleontologist Anders Birger Bohlin during an expedition in Inner Mongolia. The dinosaur was named and described by Bohlin in 1953.1

The original fossil bones of Sauroplites are lost today, but some casts (copies) are kept at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.1

For a long time, scientists thought Sauroplites might be a doubtful name because the fossils were so fragmentary. But in 2014, researcher Victoria Megan Arbour found a unique feature on the hip shield that proved it was a real, valid dinosaur.1

Sauroplites lived about 121 to 113 million years ago, during the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in rocks of the Zhidan Group.1 2

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

?How big was Sauroplites?

Nobody knows for sure because the fossils are very fragmentary. The largest bony plates on its back could be up to 40 centimetres (about 16 inches) long, but no complete skeleton has been found to estimate its full size.1

?What did Sauroplites eat?

Sauroplites was an herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It had a plant-eating dinosaur's body and teeth suited for chewing vegetation.1

?Is Sauroplites a dinosaur?

Yes, Sauroplites is a dinosaur. It is an ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Sauroplites
Named by: Bohlin 19534
Group: Armoured dinos
Family / clade: Nodosauridae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ankylosauria > Nodosauridae > Thyreophora4
Age of the rocks: 121 to 113 million years (Aptian)4
Countries: China4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Swedish paleontologist Anders Birger Bohlin discovered the fossils of Sauroplites in 1930 near Tebch in Inner Mongolia, during the Swedish-Chinese expeditions of Sven Hedin. He named and described the dinosaur in 1953.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Sauroplites belonged to the Nodosauridae family or the Ankylosauridae family. Some studies place it with nodosaurids because of its hip shield, but nodosaurids are rare in Asia.1

Where the facts come from

Sauroplites (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Sauroplites — Facts, Size, Diet & Pronunciation | Types of Dinosaurs (typesofdinosaurs.com)
Sauroplites 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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