Brachypodosaurus was a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of thyreophora

Thyreophora

The Thyreophora were a subgroup of the ornithischian dinosaurs...

n dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...

 from the Late Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 Lameta formation (Maastrichtian

Maastrichtian

The Maastrichtian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the latest age or upper stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series, the Cretaceous period or system, and of the Mesozoic era or erathem. It spanned from 70.6 ± 0.6 Ma to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma...

) in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The only remains discovered so far for this animal has been a fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 humerus

Humerus

The humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....

, named Brachypodosaurus gravis by Chakravati in 1934, and originally described as a stegosaur.

This ornithischian could have been either an ankylosaur (an armoured dinosaur) or a stegosaur (a plated dinosaur). The name Brachypodosaurus is, however, considered as a nomen dubium

Nomen dubium

In zoological nomenclature, a nomen dubium is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application...

as so few remains of the animal have been found. Wilson

Jeffrey A. Wilson

Jeffrey A. Wilson also known as "JAW "is a professor of geological sciences and assistant curator at the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan....

 et al., cast further doubts on the stegosaurian affinity of the genus in 2003. The other Late Cretaceous genus from India originally described as a stegosaur, Dravidosaurus

Dravidosaurus

Dravidosaurus is a genus of prehistoric reptile which was once thought to be the last surviving stegosaur, the group of "plated" dinosaurs. With an estimated length of 3 metres , it would have also been the smallest member of the group...

, is also a nomen dubium.