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Stegosaurus

Reptilia - Stegosauridae

Taxonomy
Stegosaurus was named by Marsh (1877). It is the type genus of Stegosauridae, Stegosaurinae, Stegosauroidea.

It was synonymized subjectively with Hypsirophus by Lydekker (1893).

It was assigned to Sauroscelida by Williston (1878); to Stegosauria by Quenstedt (1882); to Stegosauria by Dollo (1885) and Marsh (1893); to Stegosauri by Gadow (1897); to Stegosauri by Gadow (1898) and Gadow (1901); to Stegosauria by Marsh (1877), Marsh (1887), Dollo (1889), Marsh (1892), Winkler (1893), Delair (1960) and Chure et al. (2006); to Stegosauridae by Marsh (1880), Marsh (1881), Sauvage (1882), Dollo (1884), Marsh (1884), Marsh (1885), Zittel (1890), Marsh (1895), Marsh (1896), Nopcsa (1901), Mansel-Pleydell (1902), Hay (1902), Huene (1909), von Zittel (1911), Tornier (1913), Gilmore (1914), Hennig (1915), Lambe (1918), Joleaud (1922), Lull (1924), Piveteau (1926), Hay (1930), Chakravarti (1934), Young (1959), Tatarinov (1964), Kuhn (1964), Romer (1966), Charig (1967), Swinton (1970), Galton (1977), Madsen and Miller (1979), Galton (1980), McIntosh (1981), Russell (1984), Bonaparte (1986), Sereno (1986), Carroll (1988), Galton (1990), Miller et al. (1991), Olshevsky and Ford (1993), Dodson (1997), Blows (2001), Galton and Upchurch (2004), Maidment et al. (2006), Escaso et al. (2007), Galton (2007), Mateus et al. (2009) and Mateus and Milàn (2010); and to Stegosaurinae by Nopcsa (1928), Romer (1956), Hoffstetter and Brun (1958), Dong et al. (1983), Zhou (1983), Zhou (1986), Sereno (1998), Escaso et al. (2007), Maidment et al. (2008) and Ulansky (2014).

Synonyms
Synonymy list
YearName and author
1877Stegosaurus Marsh
1877Stegosaurus armatus Marsh
1878Hypsirophus Cope
1878Stegosaurus armatus King p. 346
1878Stegosaurus Williston p. 45
1879Hypsirhophus seeleyanus Cope
1880Stegosaurus Marsh p. 259
1881Diracodon Marsh
1881Stegosaurus Marsh
1881Stegosaurus affinis Marsh
1881Diracodon Marsh p. 421
1882Stegosaurus Quenstedt p. 188
1882Diracodon Sauvage p. 35
1882Stegosaurus Sauvage p. 35
1884Diracodon Dollo p. 298
1884Stegosaurus Dollo p. 298
1884Diracodon Marsh p. 68
1884Stegosaurus Marsh p. 68
1885Stegosaurus Dollo p. 39
1885Diracodon Marsh p. 764
1885Stegosaurus Marsh p. 764
1887Diracodon Marsh p. 416
1887Stegosaurus Marsh pp. 416-417
1889Stegosaurus Dollo p. 678
1890Hypsirhophus Zittel p. 726
1890Stegosaurus Zittel p. 744
1890Diracodon Zittel p. 748
1892Diracodon Marsh
1892Stegosaurus Marsh
1893Stegosaurus Marsh p. 437
1893Stegosaurus Winkler p. 105
1893Stegosaurus armatus Winkler p. 105
1893Diracodon Winkler p. 107
1895Diracodon Marsh
1895Stegosaurus Marsh
1896Diracodon Marsh p. 242
1896Stegosaurus Marsh p. 242
1897Stegosaurus Gadow p. 205
1897Stegosaurus armatus Marsh p. 526
1898Stegosaurus Gadow p. 22
1901Stegosaurus Gadow p. 425
1901Diracodon Nopcsa p. 213
1901Stegosaurus Nopcsa p. 215
1901Stegosaurus affinis Nopcsa p. 215
1901Stegosaurus seeleyanus Nopcsa p. 215
1902Stegosaurus Hay p. 495
1902Stegosaurus armatus Hay p. 495
1902Diracodon Hay p. 496
1902Stegosaurus affinis Hay p. 496
1902Stegosaurus seeleyanus Hay p. 496
1902Stegosaurus Mansel-Pleydell p. lxxx
1909Hypsirhophus Huene p. 16
1909Diracodon Huene p. 17
1909Stegosaurus Huene p. 17
1911Hypsirhophus von Zittel p. 283
1911Stegosaurus von Zittel p. 293
1911Diracodon von Zittel p. 294
1913Stegosaurus Tornier p. 373
1914Stegosaurus Gilmore p. 101
1914Stegosaurus armatus Gilmore p. 104
1915Stegosaurus Hennig p. 10
1915Stegosaurus armatus Hennig p. 10
1915Hypsirhophus seeleyanus Hennig p. 11
1916Stegosaurus armatus Mook p. 143
1916Stegosaurus affinis Mook p. 144
1916Stegosaurus seeleyanus Mook p. 144
1918Stegosaurus Lambe p. 32
1922Stegosaurus Joleaud p. 63
1924Stegosaurus Lull p. 242
1926Stegosaurus Piveteau p. 36
1928Diracodon Nopcsa p. 185
1928Stegosaurus Nopcsa p. 185
1930Stegosaurus Hay p. 233
1930Stegosaurus affinis Hay p. 234
1930Stegosaurus armatus Hay p. 234
1930Stegosaurus seeleyanus Hay p. 234
1930Diracodon Hay p. 235
1931Stegosaurus armatus Johnson p. 358
1934Stegosaurus Chakravarti p. 78
1956Stegosaurus Romer p. 634
1958Stegosaurus Hoffstetter and Brun p. 71
1959Stegosaurus Young pp. 7-8
1960Stegosaurus Delair p. 88
1964Stegosaurus Kuhn p. 37
1964Stegosaurus armatus Kuhn p. 37
1964Stegosaurus affinis Kuhn p. 38
1964Stegosaurus seeleyanus Kuhn p. 38
1964Stegosaurus Tatarinov p. 572
1966Stegosaurus Romer p. 370
1967Stegosaurus Charig p. 715
1970Stegosaurus Swinton p. 236
1973Wuerhosaurus Dong p. 50 figs. 3-4, Pl. 5-7
1977Stegosaurus Galton p. 230
1979Stegosaurus Madsen and Miller p. 5
1980Stegosaurus Galton p. 832
1981Wuerhosaurus Galton p. 43
1981Stegosaurus McIntosh p. 35
1983Stegosaurus Dong et al. p. 137
1983Wuerhosaurus Dong et al. p. 137
1983Wuerhosaurus Zhao p. 304
1983Stegosaurus Zhou p. 26
1984Stegosaurus Russell p. 23
1986Stegosaurus Bonaparte p. 84
1986Stegosaurus Sereno
1986Wuerhosaurus Sereno
1986Stegosaurus Zhou p. 36
1986Wuerhosaurus Zhou p. 36
1988Stegosaurus Carroll
1988Wuerhosaurus Carroll
1990Stegosaurus armatus Bakker p. 2
1990Wuerhosaurus Dong p. 262
1990Stegosaurus Galton
1990Wuerhosaurus Galton
1991Stegosaurus Miller et al. p. 40
1992Wuerhosaurus Dong p. 166
1993Diracodon Olshevsky and Ford
1993Stegosaurus Olshevsky and Ford
1993Stegosaurus armatus Olshevsky and Ford
1993Wuerhosaurus Olshevsky and Ford
1994Wuerhosaurus Dong p. 2174
1997Stegosaurus Dodson p. 12
1998Stegosaurus Sereno p. 61
1999Stegosaurus armatus Carpenter p. 9
2001Stegosaurus Blows p. 138
2001Wuerhosaurus Blows p. 138
2001Stegosaurus armatus Carpenter and Galton p. 81
2001Wuerhosaurus Carpenter et al. p. 73 fig. 3.14
2004Stegosaurus Galton and Upchurch p. 345
2004Stegosaurus armatus Galton and Upchurch p. 345
2004Wuerhosaurus Galton and Upchurch p. 345
2006Stegosaurus Chure et al. p. 237
2006Stegosaurus armatus Chure et al. p. 237
2006Stegosaurus Maidment et al. p. 951 fig. 8
2006Stegosaurus armatus Mateus p. 231
2007Stegosaurus Escaso et al. p. 158
2007Stegosaurus armatus Escaso et al. p. 371
2007Stegosaurus Galton p. 24
2007Stegosaurus armatus Galton p. 24
2008Stegosaurus armatus Maidment et al. pp. 377-378
2008Stegosaurus Maidment et al. p. 390 fig. 11
2009Stegosaurus Mateus et al.
2009Stegosaurus armatus Mateus et al.
2010Stegosaurus armatus Billon-Bruyat et al. p. 147
2010Stegosaurus armatus Christiansen and Tschopp p. 165
2010Stegosaurus Mateus and Milàn p. 254
2010Stegosaurus armatus Yates p. 746
2011Stegosaurus armatus Barrett and Maidment p. 404
2013Stegosaurus armatus Ruiz-Omeñaca et al. p. 37
2014Diracodon Ulansky p. 5
2014Hypsirophus Ulansky p. 5
2014Hypsirophus seeleyanus Ulansky p. 5
2014Stegosaurus Ulansky p. 7
2014Stegosaurus armatus Ulansky p. 7
2014Wuerhosaurus Ulansky p. 8
2014Stegosaurus armatus Ulansky p. 20
2018Wuerhosaurus Tumanova and Alifanov p. 1771

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RankNameAuthor
kingdomAnimalia()
Bilateria
EubilateriaAx 1987
Life
Deuterostomia
phylumChordataHaeckel 1874
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
Osteichthyes()
subclassSarcopterygii()
subclassDipnotetrapodomorpha(Nelson 2006)
subclassTetrapodomorpha()
Tetrapoda
Reptiliomorpha
Anthracosauria
subclassAmphibiosauriaKuhn 1967
Cotylosauria()
Amniota
Sauropsida
classReptilia
RankNameAuthor
subclassEureptilia()
Romeriida
Diapsida()
Archosauromorpha(Huene 1946)
Crocopoda
ArchosauriformesGauthier 1986
Eucrocopoda
Archosauria()
informalAvemetatarsalia
Ornithodira
Dinosauromorpha
Dinosauriformes
Dinosauria()
Ornithischia()
Genasauria
Thyreophora()
Stegosauria()
familyStegosauridae
genusStegosaurus

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. †Stegosaurus Marsh 1877
show all | hide all
Stegosaurus armatus Marsh 1877
Stegosaurus duplex Marsh 1887
Stegosaurus stenops Marsh 1887
Stegosaurus sulcatus Marsh 1887
Stegosaurus ungulatus Marsh 1879
Invalid names: Diracodon Marsh 1881 [synonym], Hypsirophus Cope 1878 [synonym], Stegosaurus affinis Marsh 1881 [nomen nudum], Stegosaurus armatus Marsh 1877 [nomen dubium], Wuerhosaurus Dong 1973 [synonym]
Diagnosis
ReferenceDiagnosis
C. W. Gilmore 1914Skull relatively very small and brain cavity in proportion to size of the body more diminutive than in any other land vertebrate. Supraorbital region composed of two separate bones. Eamus deep and without lateral foramen. Dentition 23+/23. Teeth extremely small and weak. Vertebrae slightly amphicoelus, or with flat ends; dorsals with much elevated neural arches. Neural canal in sacrum enlarged to many times the capacity of the brain. Sacrum and lateral processes entirely roofed over by bone. Anterior caudal vertebra largest in the column. Ulna (in adults) as long as humerus, with large olecranon process. Manus short, pentadactyle. Phalangial formula of digits III and IV apparently reduced. Femur long, straight, fourth trochanter vestigal, with or without lesser trochanter. Tibia having greatest diameter of two ends in the same plane. Pes tetradactyle, digit IV consisting of a vestigal metatarsal, digit V wanting. Dermal armor consisting of two rows of erect, flattened plates extending from back of head to distal fourth of tail. Plates of opposite rows alternating. Four dermal spines near end of tail.
Z.-M. Dong 1994 (Wuerhosaurus)Differs from all other stegosaurs in having only 11 dorsal vertebrae, compared with 16 in Stegosaurus and 17-18 in Huayangosaurus. Neural canal of dorsals small, not enlarged as in Stegosaurus.
S. C. R. Maidment et al. 2008Stegosaurus possesses the following autapomorphies: quadrate–squamosal–paroccipital process articulation overhangs the retroarticular process of the lower jaw; postzygapophyses on posterior cervical vertebrae are elongated posteriorly and overhang the back of the centrum; trans-verse processes on anterior caudal vertebrae (except for caudals one and two) project ventrally rather than laterally; large,rectangular acromial process of the scapula; supra-acetabular process diverges at an angle of 90◦from the anterior process of the ilium; medial process present on the posterior iliac process of the ilium.

Additional synapomorphies using DELTRAN:
• Quadrate head strongly arched posteriorly in lateral view (equivocal in other Stegosauridae)
• Dorsal shield of sacrum not perforated by foramina in between ribs (convergent in Kentrosaurus)