Aetosaurs (
aetosaur ; order name
Aetosauria ; from
Greek, (aetos, "eagle") and (sauros, "lizard")) are an
extinct order of heavily armoured, medium- to large-sized
Late Triassic herbivorous archosaurs. They have small heads, upturned snouts, erect limbs, and a body covered by plate-like
scutes. All aetosaurs belong to the
family Stagonolepididae. Two distinct subdivisions of aeotosaurs are currently recognized,
Desmatosuchinae and
Aetosaurinae, based primarily on differences in the
morphology of the bony scutes of the two groups. Over 20
genera of aetosaurs have been described, and recently there has been controversy regarding the description of some of these genera.