Scutellosaurus

Scutellosaurus ( ) is a genus of basal thyreophoran dinosaur that lived approximately 196 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now Arizona, USA. It is classified in Thyreophora, the armoured dinosaurs; its closest relatives may have been Emausaurus and Scelidosaurus, another armored dinosaur which was mainly a quadrupedal dinosaur, unlike bipedal Scutellosaurus. It is one of the earliest representatives of the armored dinosaurs and the basalmost form discovered to date. Scutellosaurus was a small, lightly-built, ground-dwelling herbivore, that could grow up to an estimated long.

==Discovery and naming== thumb|left|Skeletal diagram showing known material, excluding osteoderms The holotype specimen of Scutellosaurus lawleri (MNA.V.175) was recovered at the West Moenkopi Plateau locality in the Silty Facies Member of the Kayenta Formation, in Coconino County, Arizona on the land of the Navajo Nation. The specimen was discovered and collected by David Lawler in red claystone sediments that were deposited during the Sinemurian stage of the Jurassic period, approximately 196 million years ago.