It is known by the right side of the skull, the right lower jaw, caudal vertebrae, neural arches, a radius, a metatarsal, a claw, fragments of ribs, scutes, and plates, known as EMAU SGWG 85.

The disarticulated maxilla of Emausaurus exhibits an anteromedially directed robust process with which it met its counterpart in the midline, creating a wedge-like structure, with no obvious offset between the alveolar margins.

[13] The general consensus has established Emausaurus as a non-eurypodan stem thyreophoran, along with Scutellosaurus and Scelidosaurus reinforced by almost all subsequent systematic reviews of ornithischian–thyreophoran relationships.

[16] This is because Emausaurus possesses a dorsal margin of the dentary sinuous in lateral view and neither elongated nor squat proportions of metacarpal 1 'medium'.

[16] Yet this was contested the same year with the description of +70 specimens of Scutellosaurus, where Emausaurus was found as sister taxon of this last one and both with strong evidence for a phylogenetic placement within Thyreophora but outside of Thyreophoroidea.

[16] The changes to the jaw are considered a series of modifications reflecting changes in the diet and evolution of the food processing of this dinosaur compared to its ancestors.

It seems to be adapted to eat Coriaceous flora, such as bennetites and cycads, abundant on the coeval Sorthat Formation, where probably this taxon lived.

[17] The rest of the skeleton of this genus is poorly presented, with for example the vertebrae showing no evidence of the proportional changes in the height of the neural arches and spines seen on stegosaurs.

[16] Emausaurus, based on the proportions of the preserved metacarpals that the forelimb shows adaptations for weight support, rather than grasping, having ungulal phalanges that are conical and only slightly decurved.

[16] Later works however have criticised this assumption given the relationships with Scutellosaurus are more likely and recommend to not infer bipedality or quadrupedality as the taxon is incomplete.

Fossil wood has been found in the same location, including driftwood and others related to the Araucariaceae, present in other European environments of Toarcian age.