Scelidosaur, the Charmouth dinosaur
This is a dorsal vertebra (a back bone in between the shoulders and hips) of a young dinosaur. It is from a scelidosaur, which are only found in the Charmouth area. This specimen was one of the first dinosaurs to be discovered and described anywhere in the world.
The specimen is the paratype, which means that it has been used, along with the holotype, to define the species Scelidosaurus harrisoni. This was done by being ‘figured’ or described in Richard Owen’s paper ‘Monographs on the British Fossil Reptilia From The Oolitic Formations 1861’ (later changed to ‘Monographs on the British Fossil Reptilia From The Liassic Formations 1881’).
