Completely Incomplete

Cast of the David Sole specimen.

Despite the 2000 discovery of what is known as the David Sole specimen of Scelidosaurus, there has not not been a modern description of Scelidosaurus. The David Sole specimen was discovered in England (though a cast is only on display in St. George, Utah) and is 7ft (2m) long and represents perhaps either a separate species or sexual dimorphism. This is because there is different dermal armor on the skeleton than has been discovered previously. All of the material previously was, in general, uniform in its coverings and skeleton itself. The soft tissue and Arizona discoveries along with the David Sole specimen cap off, at present, a long history of Scelidosaurus discoveries and research. They also add to an already extremely long and detailed list of knowledge about Scelidosaurus and add to that life history, which is always important to the understanding of any taxon extant or extinct. For instance, we know that Scelidosaurus had leaf shaped teeth capable and ready to crop vegetation and to puncture and crush its food rather than grinding it between teeth. We also know that, like its descendants Ankylosaurs and Stegosaurs, its armor was keeled on the dorsal sides and concave on the ventral sides. These scutes, we also know thanks to the soft tissue preservation in one of the later specimens, were covered by a layer of skin and that the amror was not on the outside of the skin.