page_title: Timeline of stegosaur research
section_title: 1880s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of stegosaur research / 19th century / 1880s
caption_attribution_description: Holotype of the Kimmeridge Clay stegosaur Dacentrurus armatus, from Owen's 1875 monograph. Omosaurus armatus. Hæmal or under-view of the pelvis, with contiguous dislocated vertebræ and a right femur. One eighth the natural size. From the Kimmeridge Clay at Swindon, Wilts. In the British Museum.
context_page_description: This timeline of stegosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the stegosaurs, the iconic plate-backed, spike-tailed herbivorous eurypod dinosaurs that predominated during the Jurassic period. The first scientifically documented stegosaur remains were recovered from Early Cretaceous strata in England during the mid-19th century. However, they would not be recognized as a distinct group of dinosaurs until Othniel Charles Marsh described the new genus and species Stegosaurus armatus in 1877, which he regarded as the founding member of the Stegosauria. This new taxon originally included all armored dinosaurs. It was not until 1927 that Alfred Sherwood Romer implemented the modern use of the name Stegosauria as specifically pertaining to the plate-backed and spike-tailed dinosaurs.
  From the time of their earliest description, the chief mystery surrounding stegosaurs was the function of their distinctive back plates. Marsh originally interpreted them as being plates of armor that would protect against predators. In 1910, Richard Swann Lull would agree with this hypothesis.
context_section_description: 1880
  Marsh named the Stegosauridae.
  Marsh interpreted the plates of Stegosaurus as an armored covering and its spines as natural weapons.
  Marsh described the new species Stegosaurus affinis.
  1881
  Marsh described the new genus and species Diracodon laticeps.
  1884
  Hulke reported a Cretaceous stegosaur pubis from England.
  1887
  Hulke described the new species Omosaurus durobrivensis.
  Marsh described the new species Stegosaurus sulcatus.
  Marsh described the new species Stegosaurus duplex. Marsh described the new species Stegosaurus stenops.
caption: Holotype of Omosaurus (now Dacentrurus) armatus, from Sir Richard Owen's 1875 monograph.
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