Kentrosaurus

Skeletal reconstruction in the Berlin Museum of Natural History

• Africa (Tanzania / Tendaguru )

• Kentrosaurus aethiopicus

Kentrosaurus is a genus of bird Beck dinosaurs from the group of Stegosauria. The genus was characterized by their sharp dorsal spines and lived in the Upper Jurassic ( Kimmeridgian late ) in Africa today.

Features

With an estimated length of 5 meters kentrosaurus was a rather small Stegosaurus. Like all members of this group, he was characterized by the double row of bony structures ( osteoderms ) that extended along the back and tail. At the neck and on the anterior half of the back he wore six pairs of bony plates, which were relatively small and pointed. This was followed at the rear part of the back and tail eight pairs of large, sharp spikes on. The rearmost spike pair was mounted almost horizontally. In addition kentrosaurus had two more long spines. For a long time we suspected that these were attached to the pelvis, but comparisons with other stegosaurs abandon a position at the shoulder are more likely. The plates and spikes are likely to have either the display during courtship or the enemy defenses served (or two tasks together ).

The front legs were short and strong, the hind legs long and columnar like most stegosaurs. In contrast to the closely related Stegosaurus kentrosaurus lacked the long spinous processes.

There is no complete skull finds; nevertheless likely kentrosaurus like most other Stegosaurus have owned a flat, elongated snout. The teeth were small and nearly triangular in shape, they can be as with all stegosaurs on a vegetable diet close.

Discovery and naming

Kentrosaurus was found in Tendaguru in Tanzania from the excavation expedition (1909-1913) under Werner Janensch and 1915 described by Edwin Hennig provisional. A detailed description provided by Hennig took place in 1925. The name derives from the ancient Greek kentron / κέντρον " acute" and sauros / σαῦρος " lizard" from. The only way, and thus the type species is kentrosaurus aethiopicus.

From this dinosaur hundreds of bones, but most of them were isolated, found. Most parts of the postcranial skeleton are known, the skull but only partially. A relatively complete mounted skeleton, which is based on the lectotype, is in the Berlin Museum of Natural History. It has been described in its original mounting detail of Janensch (1925 ).

During the renovation and redesign of the dinosaur hall from 2005 to 2007 the bones were restored and the skeleton adapted in a modern research attitude reinstalled. Another mounted skeleton, but with many additions of gypsum, can be seen in the Museum of the Institute of Geosciences of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen.