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''Dacentrurus'' (meaning "tail full of points"), originally known as ''Omosaurus'', was a large stegosaur of the Late Jurassic Period (154 - 150 mya) of Europe. Its type species, ''Omosaurus armatus'', was named in 1875, based on a skeleton found in England. In 1902 the genus was renamed into ''Dacentrurus'' because the name ''Omosaurus'' had already been used for a crocodilian. After 1875, half a dozen other species would be named but perhaps only ''Dacentrurus armatus'' is valid. Finds of this animal have been limited and much of its appearance is uncertain. It was a heavily built quadrupedal herbivore, adorned with plates and spikes. ==Description== ''Dacentrurus'' was a large stegosaurid, some specimen have been estimated to reach lengths between 〔Galton, Peter M.; Upchurch, Paul, 2004, "Stegosauria" In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): ''The Dinosauria'', 2nd edition, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 344-345〕〔Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2008) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages'' (Supplementary Information )〕 and to weigh up to .〔Paul, G.S., 2010, ''The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs'', Princeton University Press p. 223〕 Many books claim that ''Dacentrurus'' was a small stegosaur, when in fact finds such as a wide pelvis indicate that ''Dacentrurus'' was among the largest of them. For a stegosaur the gut was especially broad,〔 and a massive rump is also indicated by exceptionally wide dorsal vertebrae centra.〔 The hindlimb was rather short,〔 but the forelimb relatively long, largely because of a long lower arm.〔 Although ''Dacentrurus'' is considered to have the same proportions as ''Stegosaurus'', its plate and spike configuration is known to be rather different, as it probably had both two rows of small plates on its neck and two rows of longer spikes along its tail. The holotype specimen of ''Dacentrurus armatus'' contained a small blunt asymmetrical neck plate and also included a tail spike which could have been part of a thagomizer. The tail spike had sharp cutting edges on its front and rear side. Dacentrurus has sometimes been portrayed with a spike growing near the shoulder, similarly to a ''Kentrosaurus''. Whether this portrayal is accurate or not is not yet determined. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dacentrurus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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