page_title: Scelidosaurus
section_title: Postcranial skeleton
hierarchical_section_title: Scelidosaurus / Description / Postcranial skeleton
caption_attribution_description: Scelidosaurus Harrisonii. Fig. 1. Side view of bones of the right hind foot; half natural size. Fig. 2. Reduced diagrammatic outline of bones of hind foot (Scelidosaurus). Fig. 3. Ib., ib. of a monitor lizard (Varanus). Fig. 4. Ib., ib. of a crocodile (Crocodilus).
context_page_description: Scelidosaurus is a genus of herbivorous armoured ornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of England.
  Scelidosaurus lived during the Early Jurassic Period, during the Sinemurian to Pliensbachian stages around 191 million years ago. This genus and related genera at the time lived on the supercontinent Laurasia. Its fossils have been found near Charmouth in Dorset, England, and are known for their excellent preservation. Scelidosaurus has been called the earliest complete dinosaur. It is the most completely known dinosaur of the British Isles. Scelidosaurus is currently the only classified dinosaur found in Ireland. Despite this, a modern description only materialised in 2019. After initial finds in the 1850s, comparative anatomist Richard Owen named and described Scelidosaurus in 1859. Only one species, Scelidosaurus harrisonii named by Owen in 1861, is considered valid today, although one other species was proposed in 1996.
  Scelidosaurus was about 4 metres long. It was a largely quadrupedal animal, feeding on low scrubby plants, the parts of which were bitten off by the small, elongated head to be processed in the large gut.
context_section_description: The vertebral column of Scelidosaurus contained at least six neck vertebrae, seventeen dorsal vertebrae, four sacral vertebrae and at least thirty-five tail vertebrae.
  Though perhaps the actual total of cervical vertebrae was as high as seven or eight, the neck was only moderately long. The torso was relatively flat in side view, however, despite the belly being broad, it was not extremely vertically compressed as with ankylosaurs but taller than wide. The last three dorsal vertebrae had no ribs. The spines of the sacral vertebrae touched each other but were not fused into a supraneural plate. The quickly tapering tail was relatively short, probably representing about half of body length. The tail chevrons were strongly inclined to the rear. The hip area and tail base were stiffened by large numbers of ossified tendons.
  The scapula was short with a moderately expanded upper end. The coracoid was circular in side view. The elements of the forelimb were generally moderately long, straight and stout. The hand is only known from recent discoveries and has not yet been described. In the rather wide pelvis, the ilium was straight in side view. Its front blade was rod-shaped and moderately splayed to the outside, creating room for the belly. This was reinforced by the sacral ribs becoming longer towards the front. The sacral ribs were wider at their attachment areas with the ilium, but were not fused into a sacral yoke. The pubis featured a short prepubis. The pubis shaft was straight, running parallel to a straight ischium shaft that was transversely flattened at its lower end. The thighbone was straight in side view, in front view it was somewhat bowed to the outside. Its head was not separated from the shaft by a real neck. While the major trochanter was at about the same level as the head, the lower minor trochanter was separated from both by a deep cleft. At it rear side, the femur mid-shaft featured a well-developed drooping fourth trochanter, a process for the attachment of the retractor tail muscle, the Musculus caudofemoralis longus. The lower leg was somewhat shorter than the thighbone. The tibia had a wide upper end, with a cnemial crest protruding well to the front. The tibia lower end was also robust and rotated about 70° compared to the upper part, turning the foot strongly to the outside. The foot was very large and wide. The fifth metatarsal was only rudimentary but the other four were robust. Scelidosaurus had four large toes, with the innermost digit being the smallest. The fourth metatarsal was short but its toe was long and built to be splayed to the outside of the foot, to improve the stability. The claws were flat, hoof-shaped and curved to the inside.
caption: Leg of S. harrisonii
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