Stegosaur remains from the Middle Jurassic of West Siberia

Abstract

The Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Itat Formation at Berezovsk Quarry, Krasnoyarsk Territory (West Siberia, Russia) has produced abundant remains of stegosaurs. Numerous isolated teeth are found at various microvertebrate sites, and associated skeletal remains, mostly vertebrae, ribs, and ilio-sacral block fragments were excavated at the Stegosaur Quarry. These remains likely belong to one taxon which is characterized by numerous secondary ridges on one crown side in cheek dentition, six vertebrae in the synsacrum, four sacral and one dorsosacral ribs, lack of dorsal process on the transverse process in anterior caudals, moderately expanded tops of the neural spines in anterior caudals, and large triangular transversely thin dorsal dermal plates. The combination of these and other features is not characteristic for any other known stegosaur taxon and the Berezovsk stegosaur likely represents a new taxon. Among known stegosaurs it is most similar with Stegosaurus from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of North America and Asia by having numerous secondary ridges on teeth, a right angle between the supraacetabular flange and the anterior iliac process of ilium and in the structure of the dorsal dermal plates. It differs from Stegosaurus by plesiomorphically unexpanded tops of the neural spines and lack of dorsal process on the transverse processes in the anterior caudal vertebrae. The Berezovsk stegosaur is among the oldest stegosaurs in the fossil record.