Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
229 / Mesozoic
Kentrosaurus
Kentrosaurus aethiopicus
Plates covered the front body while long paired spikes armed the hips and tail, concentrating defense behind it.
View original image · 1536 × 1024- Time range
- About 152–145 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Jurassic
- Geographic range
- Seasonal river plain · Tanzania
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Kentrosaurus?
Kentrosaurus (Kentrosaurus aethiopicus) was an extinct organism known from About 152–145 million years ago, with a range in Seasonal river plain · Tanzania.
Life and ecology
Smaller than Stegosaurus, Kentrosaurus fed on low vegetation. Strong hip and tail muscles could swing its spikes through a broad defensive arc.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Kentrosaurus disappear?
Late Jurassic East African environments and herbivore communities changed, but that change does not establish why this stegosaur branch disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Kentrosaurus?
Many Tendaguru bones reconstruct plates, spikes, spine and limbs across several individuals.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS