Loricatosaurus


Loricatosaurus is a dinosaur of family Stegosauridae from Callovian-age rocks of England and France.

Discovery and naming

Loricatosaurus is known from remains previously assigned to Lexovisaurus. These remains were discovered at the Fletton brick pit in the Oxford Clay Formation, Fletton, Peterborough, England, by Alfred Leeds during November 1901. The material was later assigned to Stegosaurus priscus by Baron Franz Nopcsa in 1911. However, upon later review of the material in 2008, Susannah Maidment and colleagues determined that Lexovisaurus was based upon nondiagnostic remains, and coined a new genus for the other specimens. The species name, priscus, comes from the oldest name associated with diagnostic specimens, Baron Franz Nopcsa's "Stegosaurus" priscus of 1911. It is known from only two partial skeletons. Contrary to previous reports, a shoulder spine is not present in the known material; the possible spine is more likely from the tail.
The genus name Loricatosaurus derives from the Latin "loricatus" and the Greek "sauros". The specific name derives from the Latin "priscus".

Description

The holotype is a partial skeleton, including two cervical, six dorsal, and 16 caudal vertebrae, a right humerus and right ulna, some carpus, two metacarpals, a partial ilia, partial right ischium, and pubis, the left femur, partial tibia and fibula, fused tarsals, and some armour plates. This material now resides in the British Museum of Natural History's palaeontology collection. Another referred specimen, from an unnamed unit referred to as the Marnes a Belemnopsis latesulcatus Formation from the lower Callovian, Middle Jurassic of Le Fresne d’Argences, Calvados, Normandy, France, includes neck, back and tail vertebrae, a left upper arm, right thigh, shin and calf, and some armour plates.
Multiple phylogenetic analyses carried out by S. Maidment and O. Mateus between 2008 and 2010 place Loricatosaurus as a basal genus within the family Stegosauridae.