page_title: Scelidosaurus
section_title: Paleobiology
hierarchical_section_title: Scelidosaurus / Paleobiology
caption_attribution_description: Scelidosaurus Harrisonii. Fig. 1. Side view of part of skull; natural size. Fig. 2. The fractured fore-end of the same skull, showing teeth in their sockets. Fig. 3. Outer side of tooth of the upper jaw, magnified. The skeleton which afforded the subjects of Plates 46-58 was discovered by James Harrison, Esq., in the Lower Lias of Charmouth, Dorsetshire. The fossils are in the British Museum of Natural History.
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.
caption: Close up of tooth, and left side of the neotype skull.
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