Scelidosaurus

Scelidosaurus was an early type of herbivorous dinosaur. It was a thyreophoran, a lightly plated, herbivorous dinosaur about 4 metres long. It lived during the early  Jurassic, 196 to 183 million years ago. Its fossils were found in Charmouth, Dorset, England.BBC Family & Education.  

Scelidosaurus has been called the earliest complete dinosaur.Norman, David 2001. Scelidosaurus, the earliest complete dinosaur. In The armored dinosaurs, pp 3-24. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.  

It is one of the earliest and most basal of the armoured dinosaurs. A review by Serano had Scelidosaurus as the sister group (closest relative) to both the Stegosauria and Ankylosauria.Serano P.C. 1986. Phylogeny of the bird-hipped dinosaurs (Order Ornithischia). National Geographic Research 2, 234–256.

This genus lived on the supercontinent Laurasia. 
Its  length was about 4 metres (13 ft).Lambert D 1993. The ultimate dinosaur book. Dorling Kindersley, New York, p110-113.  Scelidosaurus was quadrupedal, with the hindlimbs longer than the forelimbs. It may have reared up on its hind legs to browse on foliage from trees, but its forefeet were as large as its hind feet. This suggests a mostly quadrupedal posture.

Scelidosaurus and its Jurassic relatives were herbivorous. Other ornithischians had teeth capable of grinding plant material, but Scelidosaurus had smaller, less complex teeth. Its jaw could only do simple up-and-down movements. In this aspect, they resembled the stegosaurids, which also had primitive teeth and simple jaws. Also, like stegosaurs, they may have swallowed gastroliths to aid processing of food (because of the lack of chewing ability). This is also done by modern birds and crocodiles.Stegosaurs  Jacobson RJ. Dinosaur and vertebrate paleontology information. Retrieved 2007-02-11. The diet of Scelidosaurus was low-lying plants like ferns and cycads. Seaweed has also been suggested as a food. Grass did not evolve until the Cretaceous period.

 References 

Category:Thyreophora