Sarcolestes
- Sarcolestes leedsi
Sarcolestes is a little-known genus of bird Beck dinosaur ( Ornithischia ) from the group of Ankylosauria.
So far only one of Sarcolestes partially preserved mandible known having a ornamentation on the outside. Otherwise, on the physique of this dinosaur unknown.
The fossil remains of Sarcolestes were found in Cambridgeshire in England and first described in 1893 by Richard Lydekker. The name means " Flesh Raiders " because Lydekker held the Fund for a carnivorous dinosaur. Only in the 1980s was noted by Peter Galton, that this is a Ankylar. Type species and only known species is S. leedsi.
The find is dated to the Middle Jurassic ( Callovian ) to an age of about 166-163 million years hence is Sarcolestes the oldest known representative of the Ankylosauria. Sometimes it is classified within the Ankylosauria in the Nodosauridae, M. Vickaryous et al. (2004) hold the Fund, however, too sparse for a more detailed systematization and run it as incertae sedis Ankylosauria.