THYREOSAURUS
a stegosaurian dinosaur with bizarre armour from the Middle Jurassic of Morocco.
Pronunciation: TIE-ree-o-SOR-us
Meaning: Shield lizard
Author/s: Zafaty
et al. (
2024)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Fès-Meknes, Morocco
Discovery Chart Position: #1120
Thyreosaurus atlasicus
(Shield Lizard of the Atlas Mountains)Etymology
Thyreosaurus is derived from the Greek "thyreos" (an oblong shield used by armies during the Hellenistic age: the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 bc and the conquest of Egypt by Rome in 30 bc) and "sauros" (lizard).
The
species epithet,
atlasicus, refers to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and North Africa.
Discovery
The remains of
Thyreosaurus were discovered in the El Mers III Formation at fossil site HIIUC-BN (Hassan II University of Casablanca-Boulahfa North locality), north of Boulahfa Quarry, near Boulemane, Fès-Meknes, Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco, by Omar Zafaty, Mostafa Oukassou and Saad Bendrioua in 2021, during a geological mapping mission south of Boulemane. The fossils were collected over several consecutive field trips.
The
holotype (HIIUC-BN00) consists of nine back vertebrae, 21 ribs, a limb bone (perhaps a calf?) and six osteoderms.
Estimations
Timeline:
Era: Mesozoic
Epoch: Middle Jurassic
Stage: Bathonian-Callovian
Age range: 168-166 mya
Stats:
Est. max. length: 6 meters
Est. max. hip height: ?
Est. max. weight: ?
Diet: Herbivore
References
• Zafaty O, Oukassou M, Pereda-Suberbiola X, Riguetti F, Company J, Bendrioua S, Tabuce R and Charrière A (2022) "New remains of thyreophoran dinosaurs (Ornithischia) from the Middle Jurassic red beds of Morocco".
4èmes Journées Jeunes Chercheurs en Géosciences.
• Zafaty O, Oukassou M, Pereda-Suberbiola X, Riguetti F, Company J, Bendrioua S, Tabuce R and Charrière A (2023) "A new partial skeleton including dermal armor of a thyreophoran (Ornithischia) dinosaur from Middle Jurassic of North Africa (Morocco)".
14th Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota, 306: 261–264. DOI: 10.1002/ar.25219.
• Zafaty O, Oukassou M, Riguetti F, Company J, Bendrioua S, Tabuce R, Charrière A and Pereda-Suberbiola X (2024) "A new stegosaurian dinosaur (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) with a remarkable dermal armour from the Middle Jurassic of North Africa".
Gondwana Research (advance online publication). DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2024.03.009.
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To cite this page:
Atkinson, L.
"
THYREOSAURUS :: from DinoChecker's dinosaur archive".
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http://www.dinochecker.com/dinosaurs/THYREOSAURUS›. Web access: 06th Mar 2026.
