Thyreophora

Thyreophora is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs characterized by dermal armor. Its two major branches are Stegosauria and Ankylosauria.

Ornithischia: One of the two major dinosaur lineages, including horned, duck-billed, armored, and other plant-eating dinosaurs. Thyreophora is a major branch within this broader dinosaur lineage.
Osteoderm: A bony structure that forms within the skin or just beneath it. Thyreophoran armor consists chiefly of osteoderms arranged in distinctive patterns.
Scutellosaurus: A small Early Jurassic ornithischian dinosaur with rows of bony scutes along its back and tail. It is among the earliest known thyreophoran-grade dinosaurs.
Stegosaurus: A Late Jurassic stegosaur dinosaur with large back plates and a spiked tail. It is a familiar example of the plated body plan within Thyreophora.
Stegosauria: A clade of herbivorous dinosaurs known for rows of plates or spikes along the back and tail. Stegosaurs form one of Thyreophora’s two major branches.
Stegosaur plate: A large, flattened dermal bone arranged in rows along the back of a stegosaur. These conspicuous osteoderms are one specialized form of thyreophoran armor.
Scelidosaurus: An Early Jurassic armored dinosaur known from well-preserved fossils in England. Its anatomy preserves an early combination of traits associated with later thyreophorans.
Ankylosaurus: A Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid dinosaur with extensive armor and a tail club. It exemplifies the heavily armored ankylosaur branch.
Ankylosauria: A clade of armored dinosaurs that includes ankylosaurids and nodosaurids. Ankylosaurs form the other major branch of Thyreophora.
Ankylosaur tail club: A bony mass at the end of some ankylosaur tails, formed from fused vertebrae and osteoderms. It represents an extreme, weaponized specialization of ankylosaur armor.

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