Scutellosaurus, genus of small ornithischian dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic Period (roughly 200 million to 176 million years ago) characterized by the presence of small scutes along the back and sides of the body. Scutellosaurus had small forelimbs and robust hind limbs indicative of a bipedal stance; however, some authorities maintain that its forearms were strong enough to support quadrupedal movement. Scutellosaurus reached lengths of 1.5 to 2 metres (about 5 to 6.5 feet). Its skull grew to about 9 cm (about 3.5 inches) in length, and it contained several broad incisors and a row of fluted leaf-shaped cheek teeth that appear to be adapted for feeding on plants.
The first remains of Scutellosaurus, which made up a nearly complete skeleton, were found in the Kayenta Formation of Arizona by Douglas Lawler in 1971. Lawler, then a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, took the remains to American paleontologist E.H. Colbert at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. In 1981 Colbert described the remains (collected by a Harvard University field party in 1977), along with a second specimen, as Scutellosaurus lawleri. The remains of six additional specimens were recovered from other Kayenta localities in Arizona in 1983 by American paleontologist James M. Clark.
Colbert identified the new find and inferred that it was closely related to Lesothosaurus diagnosticus, a basal ornithischian, and so he placed it in the family Fabrosauridae; however, Scutellosaurus possessed scutes, whereas the fabrosaurs did not. The presence of scutes and other features of the skeleton, such as the curve and shape of the lower jaw, demonstrated that Scutellosaurus is more closely related to the stegosaurs and the ankylosaurs in suborder Thyreophora.
Most authorities now recognize Scutellosaurus as the most primitive known member of the Thyreophora. In fact, it is so basal that it does not belong to either subgroup. Ankylosaurs improved upon the body armour seen in Scutellosaurus by making it more robust and massive, which resulted in a sculpted, tanklike appearance. Stegosaurs, on the other hand, lost all the armour except a single row of parasagittal scutes alternating along the spinal column; these scutes were successively modified into various combinations of broad plates and narrow spikes. Although many authorities have long noted the defensive and thermoregulatory functions of these structures, the plates, and the spikes, they may have principally served as indicators that allowed different species of stegosaurs to recognize each other. In Scutellosaurus, however, the scutes were far too small to serve these functions. Embedded in the skin like those of crocodiles, the scutes were probably barely visible.