UW44063 - Stegosaurus sp., Tail spike

Description

* Period/Epoch: Jurassic / Late Jurassic * Rock Formation: Morrison General-Wyoming * State, County: Wyoming Taxonomy: Dinosauria>Ornithischia>Stegosauridae>Stegosaurus sp. Stegosaurus was a genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of modern-day western North America as well as in modern-day Portugal. Stegosaurids as a group were multi-ton sized, quadrupedal herbivores that had large bony plates that stood upright on their rounded back, as well as large spikes on their tails (nicknamed “thagomizers”) and, in some groups, on their shoulders and hips. Stegosaurus was found by O. C. Marsh during the Bone Wars of the mid-to-late 19th Century, and has been popularized in various media. This specimen shows one of the tail spikes. Scanned with the David SLS-2