Re: Plate arrangement on Stegosaurus Stenops

[pharrinj@PLU.edu]

On Wed, 10 Jan 1996, Kjetil =?iso-8859-1?Q?=C5kra?= wrote:

> I am currently building a model (1/35 scale) of Stegosaurus Stenops and hope
> to get a reasonably accurate representation of this interesting dinosaur.
> During my research I dicovered several areas in which the model was highly
> inaccurate, as follows:
> 
> 1 - the plate arrangement is (acoording to my references) a single row along
> the midline, not two rows of alternating or paired plates. Can anyone
> comment on this, the accuracy of this interpretation, current theories, etc?

I belive the most current theory (based on new discoveries) favors two 
staggered rows of vertically-oriented plates.

> 
> 2 - the model portrayed a dinosaurhead without cheeks, that looks to much
> like a lizard, I think, so I added some.

Good.  As I recall, stegosaurs have an inset tooth row, indicating the 
presence of cheek pouches.

> 
> 3  - the scutes (or ossicles) was portrayed as a part of the skin. This view
> is now abandoned I believe, but I would like a confirmation on that point.
> 
> A friend of mine who has studied dinosaurs for some time, suggested an
> alternative arrangement of the plates which I had difficulty refuting. He
> believes that there were indeed two rows of plates, but they were situated
> laterally, one on each side, from necj to tail. I am not convinced, but have
> not been able to find any evidence contradicting his view. Is there anyone
> out there who know of some scientific reason why the plates of Stegosaurs
> cannot be arranged in this way, or is this arrangement really a posibillity?
> I and my friend would be very interested in learning more about this.
> 
> I have already portrayed my model with a singel row (and four tailspikes),
> but if my friends theory cannot be immidiately falsified, I might have a go
> at his arrangement too.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Kjetil =C5kra
> 
> Kjetil.Akra@zmb.uib.no


One more comment:  there is a fair chance that the animal you are 
building does not, in fact, belong to the genus _Stegosaurus_.  Real 
_Stegosaurus_, while imperfectly known, appear to have long legs, tall, 
narrow plates, and four to eight (count 'em, EIGHT) tail spikes.

_"S." stenops_ has very broad plates and shorter limbs and is limited to 
four tail spikes.

The genus that _stenops_ belongs to has probably not been named, although 
Bob Bakker thinks it belongs in _Diracodon_, a genus named by Marsh based 
on pretty scanty material.  Probably there is not enough known of 
_Diracodon_ to know if _stenops_ really belongs there.

     Happy to be of help!

     Nick Pharris
     Pacific Lutheran University
     Tacoma, WA