Stegosaurian Dinosaurs from the Bathonian(Middle Jurassic) of England, the earliest record of the family Stegosauridae

Abstract

The earliest records of stegosaurian dinosaurs of the family Stegosauridae are a few isolated bones from the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of southern England. A massive femur of a juvenile individual from the Lower Cornbrash (top of Upper Bathonian) of Oxfordshire is tentatively referred to the genus Lexovisaurus Hoffstetter as L.? vetustus ( Huene). Four other bones from the Lower Bathonian are tentatively referred to this taxon: two incomplete vertebrae from the Sharp's Hill Formation of Oxfordshire and two large and massive dermal plates from the underlying Chipping Norton Formation (basal Bathonian) of Gloucestershire.