Stegosauria
Stegosaurs are herbivorous dinosaurs, characterized most
prominently by a series of plates and spines that ornament the back and
tail. Familiar members of this group include Stegosaurus, Kentrosaurus, and Tuojiangosaurus.
Fossil remains of stegosaurs have been found in Jurassic and
Early Cretaceous rocks of North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Although a major component of Late Jurassic ecosystems,
stegosaurs apparently went extinct by the Early Cretaceous and left no
modern descendants. The anatomy of stegosaurs is highly
specialized, and has been the focus of much biomechanical and
palaeoecological research.
