Thyreophora
The Thyreophora were "shield bearers" or armoured dinosaurs, living from the early Jurassic until the end of
the Cretaceous. They are characterized by the presence of body armour lined up in rows along the body. Most
thyreophorans had relatively small brains for their body size.
The earliest Thyreophoran was Scutellosaurus, a slender-tailed beast known from the Early Jurassic in western
North America, and is among the earliest known Ornithischians. It is among the smallest of the armoured
dinosaurs, and grew to only one and one-half metres long. It had armour plates set into the skin of its back,
though these were not as large as in later Thyreophorans.
Thyreophorans include