Gigantspinosaurus

A colored digital ink illustration if the extinct stegosaurian dinosaur Gigantspinosaurus. It resembles a Stegosaurus, with a small beaked head, a slender neck, a chunky body, massive shoulder spikes curving along its sides, quadrupedal limbs with hoof-like claws, small vertical plates along its back in two rows, and a tail ending in a four-spiked thagomizer. It's depicted with speculative bristles on its chin, throat, and tail tip, and it's colored teal with black and yellow stripes and blue plates.

Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis was an early stegosaur that lived during the mid-Jurassic, about 166 million years ago, in what is now southwestern China.

Around 4.5m long (~14’9″), it had relatively small back plates and a pair of enormous shoulder spikes. It’s unclear exactly how the shoulder spines were positioned in life, but based on how they were found articulated in a fairly complete skeleton they seem to have swept sideways and backwards, protecting Gigantspinosaurus’ flanks.

Skin impressions show a mosaic of polygonal scales with scattered “rosettes” made up of larger scales surrounded by a ring of smaller scales, with a rough ridged surface texture that may have reduced light glare – suggesting an overall more matte appearance rather than glossy.

The thigh bones of one specimen are pathological, showing evidence that these dinosaurs sometimes suffered from bone tumors.

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