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SpeakBase Times·Science·
Most Complete European Stegosaur Skull Found in a Spanish Crop Field Rewrites the Plated-Dinosaur Family Tree
Paleontologists at the Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis announced on May 15, 2026 the description of the most complete stegosaurian skull ever recovered in Europe — a roughly 150-million-year-old specimen of the iconic plated dinosaur Dacentrurus armatus excavated from an Upper Jurassic crop field outside Riodeva in Teruel, Spain. The fossil preserves the frontal, postorbital, squamosal, parietal and supraoccipital bones as well as an associated cervical vertebra that confirmed the identification. Reporting in PLOS One, the team led by Sergio Sánchez-Fenollosa proposes a substantially revised stegosaurian phylogeny anchored on a new clade, Neostegosauria, and announces that the same Sierra de Javalambre site has yielded nearly 200 additional fossils representing at least two Dacentrurus individuals at different growth stages.
By SpeakBase Times Editorial Team
Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Ready
Reading PassageTap highlighted words for definitions
Scientists in Spain have found a very old dinosaur head. The bones are about 150 million years old.
The dinosaur is a stegosaur. A stegosaur is a large plant-eating dinosaur with big bony plates on its back.
The bones were found near a small town called Riodeva. The town is in the east of Spain. The bones were under a field of crops.
This is the most complete stegosaur head ever found in Europe. The discovery helps scientists understand how these dinosaurs lived and changed over time.
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Key Vocabularydinosaur —a large reptile that lived on Earth long ago, before any people existed
stegosaur —a kind of dinosaur with big bony plates on its back and spikes on its tail
bones —the hard white parts inside the body of an animal that hold it together
old —having lived or existed for a long time
Spain —a country in the south of Europe, between France and Portugal
field —a piece of land where crops grow or animals feed
head —the part of a body that holds the brain, eyes and mouth
plates —thin flat pieces of a hard material, like the bony pieces on a stegosaur's back
Exercises
Multiple Choice
1How old are the bones?
2Where were the bones found?
3Which country is the discovery from?
4What kind of dinosaur is it?
5Where is the small town?
True or False
6Stegosaurs are plant-eating dinosaurs.
7The bones are only 100 years old.
8This is the most complete stegosaur head ever found in Europe.
9The bones were found in a city street.
10The dinosaur had plates on its back.
Fill in the Blank
11The bones are about ___ million years old.
12The discovery is from the country ___ .
13The dinosaur had big bony ___ on its back.