Gargoyleosaurus

Say it like this: “gahr-GOI-lo-SAWR-us”

Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum

Gargoyleosaurus ate plants and walked on four legs. It lived in the Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in the United States.

Quiz me on Gargoyleosaurus

When: Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian · Tithonian) · roughly 154.8 to 143.1 million years ago
Named in: 1998 · Carpenter, K.; Miles, C.; Cloward, K.
Hip height: 0.7 m · 2 ft
Length: 3–3.5 m · 10–11 ft
Weight: 300–754 kg · 661–1,662 lb
Found in: the United States · Morrison
Food and walking: Herbivore · Four legs
Kind: armored dinosaur · Ankylosaur
Family branch: Nodosauridae

The story in short

In 1998, K. Carpenter and colleagues published the name Gargoyleosaurus. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.

Fossils referred to Gargoyleosaurus date to the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian · Tithonian), roughly 154.8 to 143.1 million years ago. Finds come from the United States, including the Morrison Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on four legs.

Published estimates put Gargoyleosaurus at a length near 3–3.5 m, hips about 0.7 m high, and a body mass around 300–754 kg.

On the family tree it sits in Nodosauridae, among the armored dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Acantholipan

Acantholipan gonzalezi

Late Cretaceous (Santonian) · roughly 85.7 to 83.6 million years ago

Animantarx

Animantarx ramaljonesi

Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) · roughly 100.5 to 93.9 million years ago

Anoplosaurus

Anoplosaurus curtonotus

Early Cretaceous (Albian) · roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago