Dinosaur
Dacentrurus
It received its current name because the name Omosaurus had already been used for a crocodile.
Dacentrurus had to change its name because the first one had already been used for another animal.
Three stages. One companion.
Game artwork
AI-generated, stylized game illustrations. These designs and growth stages are imaginative, not scientific reconstructions.
Dacentrurus at a glance
- Diet
- Herbivore
- A plant-based diet is inferred from its anatomy and comparisons with related animals; not all herbivores ate the same plants.
- When it lived
- Jurassic / Cretaceous
- Group
- Stegosauridae
- Stegosaurids
- Fossil locations
- England
- Places where fossils have been found
Beyond the game
The real Dacentrurus
It is among the largest known stegosaurs. It was first given the name Omosaurus, but had to be changed because that name had already been used for another animal.
Nomenclature rules help prevent different organisms from sharing the same scientific name. That historical change does not mean that the original fossils became a different species.
Stegosaurids carried bony plates and spikes along its backs and tails. The plates were not parts of the vertebrae; they were structures in the skin called osteoderms.
Fossil discoveries
Selected fossil records · present-day map
Map references
Map: Natural Earth, public domain. Fossil records: linked collections and publications.Sources & text credits
Explore the references behind this profile.
- Dacentrurus armatus
Wikipedia contributors · Spanish source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Dacentrurus
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Stegosauridae
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
- Living birds
Wikipedia contributors · English source
Educational text adapted and translated from this article by Wikipedia contributors. The revision link, when captured in the source catalogue, identifies the source version.
Educational text adapted in English from the existing Wikipedia-backed Dinosgacha catalogue and linked articles by Wikipedia contributors.
Existing English translations have been selected and arranged for this encyclopedia. Repeated period and diet text is omitted where those fields already carry it. Unknown facts remain unfilled; unreviewed geological age phrases are omitted and period labels replace numerical ages.
The adapted educational text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. This text license does not apply to the game illustrations.