Editing Kentrosaurus (section)

{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs from late Jurassic in Lindi Region, Tanzania}}
{{distinguish|Centrosaurus}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = [[Late Jurassic]] ([[Tithonian]]), {{Fossil range|152|earliest=159.7|latest=146.8}}
| image = Berlin Naturkundemuseum Dino Eingangshalle.jpg
| image_upright = 1.15
| image_caption = Mounted skeleton, [[Museum für Naturkunde]], Berlin
| taxon = Kentrosaurus
| authority = [[Edwin Hennig|Hennig]], [[1915 in paleontology|1915]]
| type_species = {{extinct}}'''''Kentrosaurus aethiopicus'''''
| type_species_authority = Hennig, 1915
| synonyms =
* ''Kentrurosaurus'' <br/><small>Hennig, [[1916 in paleontology|1916]]</small>
* ''Doryphorosaurus'' <br/><small>[[Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás|Nopcsa]], 1916</small>
}}

'''''Kentrosaurus''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|k|ɛ|n|t|r|oʊ|ˈ|s|ɔːr|ə|s}} {{respell|KEN|troh|SOR|əs}}; {{lit|prickle lizard}}) is a [[genus]] of [[stegosaurid]] [[dinosaur]] from the [[Late Jurassic]] in [[Lindi Region]] of [[Tanzania]]. The [[type species]] is '''''K. aethiopicus''''', named and described by [[German people|German]] [[Palaeontology|palaeontologist]] [[Edwin Hennig]] in 1915. Often thought to be a "[[Primitive (phylogenetics)|primitive]]" member of the [[Stegosauria]], several recent [[cladistic]] analyses find it as more derived than many other stegosaurs, and a close relative of ''[[Stegosaurus]]'' from the [[North American]] [[Morrison Formation]] within the [[Stegosauridae]].

Fossils of ''K. aethiopicus'' have been found only in the [[Tendaguru Formation]], dated to the late [[Kimmeridgian]] and early [[Tithonian]] ages, about 152 [[annum|million years ago]]. Hundreds of bones were unearthed by German expeditions to [[German East Africa]] between 1909 and 1912. Although no complete skeletons are known, the remains provided a nearly complete picture of the build of the animal. In the Tendaguru Formation, it coexisted with a variety of dinosaurs such as the carnivorous [[Theropoda|theropods]] ''[[Elaphrosaurus]]'' and ''[[Veterupristisaurus]],'' giant herbivorous [[Sauropoda|sauropods]] ''[[Giraffatitan]]'' and ''[[Tornieria]]'', and the [[Dryosauridae|dryosaurid]] ''[[Dysalotosaurus]].''

''Kentrosaurus'' generally measured around {{convert|4|-|4.5|m|ft}} in length as an adult, and weighed about {{convert|700|-|1600|kg|lb}}. It walked on all fours with straight hindlimbs. It had a small, elongated head with a beak used to bite off plant material that would be digested in a large gut. It had a, probably double, row of small plates running down its neck and back. These plates gradually merged into spikes on the hip and tail. The longest spikes were on the tail end and were used to actively defend the animal. There also was a long spike on each shoulder. The [[femur|thigh bones]] come in two [[Sexual dimorphism|different types]], suggesting that one sex was larger and more stout than the other.