Lexovisaurus

Lexovisaurus was one of the earliest recognised stegosaurs from Europe, named after an ancient Gaulish tribe that inhabited northern France. Found within the Middle Jurassic Oxford Clay of England and strata in France, its history has been the subject of extensive taxonomic debate. For decades, it was depicted as bearing immense pointed spines projecting from its shoulders alongside classic dorsal plates. Modern reassessments have concluded that much of the diagnostic spiked skeleton material belongs to the distinct genus Loricatosaurus, leaving Lexovisaurus based primarily on select cranial and postcranial remains. Reaching up to six metres in length, it was a sturdy, low-browsing quadrupedal herbivore grazing on ferns and understorey vegetation while relying on its bony plates and tail spikes for protection against formidable predatory megalosaurs.

Long thought to possess enormous shoulder spines, subsequent reviews reassigned some of this classic material to Loricatosaurus.

Where and when

Lexovisaurus lived in the Middle Jurassic, from 166.1 to 163.5 million years ago (Callovian age). Its remains come from United Kingdom and France, in the Oxford Clay Formation.

The numbers

Length 5.5 m (estimates run from 5 to 6 m). Mass about 1.8 t. Hip height about 1.7 m. That is 3.2 human-lengths, or 0.49 of a double-decker bus. These are estimates from partial skeleton; fields marked estimated by the site are length, mass, hip height.

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