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Ankylosaurine
Ankylosaurinae is a subfamily of ankylosaurid dinosaurs, existing from the Early Cretaceous about 105 million years ago until the end of the Late Cretaceous, about 66 mya. Many genera are included in the clade, such as ''Ankylosaurus'', ''Pinacosaurus'', ''Euoplocephalus'', and ''Saichania''. Features Ankylosaurines are defined as being closer relatives to ''Ankylosaurus'' than to ''Shamosaurus''. Diagnostic features of ankylosaurines include the nuchal shelf that obscures the occiput in dorsal view, and the quadrate condyle which is obscured lightly by the quadratojugal boss. Phylogeny The following cladogram is based on the 50% majority rule phylogenetic analysis In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ... of Arbour & Currie (2015): References Ankylosaur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuul
''Zuul'' is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana. The type species is ''Zuul crurivastator''. It is known from a complete skull and tail, which represents the first ankylosaurin known from a complete skull and tail club, as well as the most complete ankylosaurid specimen thus far recovered from North America. The specimen also preserved ''in situ'' osteoderms, keratin, and skin remains. Discovery and naming In 2014, Theropoda Expeditions LLC was excavating a possible ''Gorgosaurus'' specimen near Havre, Montana. On 16 May, a skid-steer loader removing a -high overburden unexpectedly hit upon an ankylosaurian tail club. An almost complete ankylosaur skeleton proved to be present. As it had not been eroded on the surface, it was in pristine condition. It was found overturned, with the stomach facing upwards. The skeleton was largely articulated, but the skull and some neck vertebrae were separated from the main torso, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ankylosaurid
Ankylosauridae () is a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, and is the sister group to Nodosauridae. The oldest known Ankylosaurids date to around 122 million years ago and went extinct 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. These animals were mainly herbivorous and were obligate quadrupeds, with leaf-shaped teeth and robust, scute-covered bodies. Ankylosaurids possess a distinctly domed and short snout, wedge-shaped osteoderms on their skull, scutes along their torso, and a tail club. Ankylosauridae is exclusively known from the northern hemisphere, with specimens found in western North America, Europe, and East Asia. The first discoveries within this family were of the genus ''Ankylosaurus'', by Peter Kaiser and Barnum Brown in Montana in 1906. Brown went on to name Ankylosauridae and the subfamily Ankylosaurinae in 1908. Anatomy Ankylosaurids are stout, solidly built, armoured dinosaurs. They possess accessory ossifications on c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oohkotokia
''Oohkotokia'' ( ) is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the upper levels of the Two Medicine Formation (late Campanian stage, about 74 Ma ago) of Montana, United States. The discovery of ''Oohkotokia'' supports that Ankylosaurine dinosaurs existed and flourished continuously in Montana and/or Alberta throughout the late Campanian and early Maastrichtian stages in the Late Cretaceous period. It was a large, heavily built, quadrupedal, herbivore, that could grow up to long and weigh up to . Discovery and naming The generic name, ''Oohkotokia'', is derived from the Blackfoot animate noun "ooh’kotoka", meaning "large stone" and the Latin suffix "ia" meaning "derived from"; thus "child of stone", which is a reference to its extensive body armor. The generic name also honors the Blackfoot people, on whose land the specimen was found. The specific name, ''O. horneri'', refers to John R. Horner of the Museum of the Rockies, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin ''creta'', "chalk", which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation ''Kreide''. The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now- extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was ice free, and forests extended to the poles. During this time, new groups of mammals and birds appeared. During the Early Cretaceous, flowering plants appeared and began to rapidly diversify, becoming the dominant group of plants across the Earth b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anodontosaurus
''Anodontosaurus'' is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the entire span of the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation (mid Late Campanian to "middle" Maastrichtian stage, about 72.8-67 Ma ago) of southern Alberta, Canada. It contains two species, ''A. lambei'' and ''A. inceptus''. Discovery ''Anodontosaurus'' was named by Charles Mortram Sternberg in 1928, based on holotype CMN 8530, a partially preserved skeleton including the skull, half ring, armor and other postcranial remains.C. M. Sternberg (1929) "A toothless armoured dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta." ''Canada Department of Mines Geological Survey Bulletin (Geological Series)'' 54(49):28-33 The badly crushed skeleton was collected by Sternberg in 1916 from a Canadian Museum of Nature quarry, 8 miles southwest of Morrin. It was collected from the upper part of the Lower Horseshoe Canyon Formation (unit 2), dating to the latest Campanian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, the equivalent Latin term ''cladus'' (plural ''cladi'') is often used in taxonomical literature. The common ancestor may be an individual, a population, or a species (extinct or extant). Clades are nested, one in another, as each branch in turn splits into smaller branches. These splits reflect evolutionary history as populations diverged and evolved independently. Clades are termed monophyletic (Greek: "one clan") groups. Over the last few decades, the cladistic approach has revolutionized biological classification and revealed surprising evolutionary relationships among organisms. Increasingly, taxonomists try to avoid naming taxa that are not clades; that is, taxa that are not monophyletic. Some of the relationships between organisms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the Latin word for the white limestone known as chalk. The chalk of northern France and the white cliffs of south-eastern England date from the Cretaceous Period. Climate During the Late Cretaceous, the climate was warmer than present, although throughout the period a cooling trend is evident. The tropics became restricted to equatorial regions and northern latitudes experienced markedly more seasonal climatic conditions. Geography Due to plate tectonics, the Americas were gradually moving westward, causing the Atlantic Ocean to expand. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia. India maintained a northward course towards Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia and Ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma. Geology Proposals for the exact age of the Barremian-Aptian boundary ranged from 126 to 117 Ma until recently (as of 2019), but based on drillholes in Svalbard the defining early Aptian Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a) was carbon isotope dated to 123.1±0.3 Ma, limiting the possible range for the boundary to c. 122–121 Ma. There is a possible link between this anoxic event and a series of Early Cretaceous large igneous provinces (LIP). The Ontong Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi large igneous province, emplaced in the South Pacific at c. 120 Ma, is by far the largest LIP in Earth's history. The Ontong Java Plateau today covers an area of 1,860,000 km2. In the Indian Ocean another LIP began to form at c. 120 Ma, the Kerguelen P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ziapelta
''Ziapelta'' is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid. Its fossils have been found in the Hunter Wash and De-na-zin members of the Kirtland Formation of Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) New Mexico. It was named in 2014, in a research paper led by ankylosaur researcher Victoria Arbour. There is a single species in the genus, ''Ziapelta sanjuanensis.'' The genus is named after the Zia sun symbol, a stylized sun with four groups of rays, having religious significance to the Zia people of New Mexico, and the iconic symbol on the state flag of New Mexico, and ''pelta'' (Latin), a small shield, in reference to the osteoderms found on all ankylosaurids. The specific name is in reference to San Juan County and the San Juan basin, where the fossils were found. Multiple specimens have been described to date, though the fossils are mostly from the front part of the animal. The adult length of ''Ziapelta'' is estimated at between and long, depending on whether the holotype was full-grown. It w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tianzhenosaurus
''Tianzhenosaurus'' (meaning “ Tianzhen lizard”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Shanxi Province that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Campanian, ~99-71 Ma) in what is now the Huiquanpu Formation. ''Tianzhenosaurus'' may represent a junior synonym of ''Saichania'', an ankylosaurine known from the Barun Goyot and Nemegt Formation. Discovery and naming In 1983, Pang Qiqing and Cheng Zhengwu discovered articulated cervical vertebrae of an ankylosaurid from the Shanxi Province. Numerous excavations at the site yielded more than 2,300 specimens belonging to sauropods, theropods, ornithopods and ankylosaurid specimens. The holotype specimen, HBV-10001, consists of a partial skull. Two paratype specimens were assigned to ''Tianzhenosaurus'': HBV-10002, an incomplete mandible; HBV-10003, cervical vertebrae, dorsal vertebrae, caudal vertebrae, a sacral complex, ilia, pectoral girdles, pelvic girdles, fore and hind limbs with fore and hind feet, ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Talarurus
''Talarurus'' ( ; meaning "basket tail" or "wicker tail") is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 96 million to 89 million years ago. The first remains of ''Talarurus'' were discovered in 1948 and later described by the Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev with the type species ''T. plicatospineus''. It is known from multiple yet sparse specimens, making it one of the most well known ankylosaurines, along with ''Pinacosaurus''. Elements from the specimens consists of various bones from the body; five skulls have been discovered and assigned to the genus, although the first two were very fragmented. It was a medium-sized, heavily built, ground-dwelling, quadrupedal herbivore, that could grow up to long and weighed about , nearly a ton. Like other ankylosaurs it had heavy armour and a club on its tail, limiting its speed. ''Talarurus'' is classified as a member of the Ankylosauria, in the Ankylosaurinae, a group of derived a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scolosaurus
''Scolosaurus'' is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the lower levels of the Dinosaur Park Formation and upper levels of the Oldman Formation in the Late Cretaceous (latest middle Campanian stage, about 76.5 Ma ago) of Alberta, Canada. It contains two species, ''S. cutleri'' and ''S. thronus''. The type species, ''S. cutleri'', measured up to in length and in body mass. Discovery ''Scolosaurus'' was named by Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás in 1928, based on holotype NHMUK R.5161, a nearly complete specimen that preserves the entire skeleton except for the distal end of the tail, the right forelimb, the right hindlimb, and the skull. The rare preservation of osteoderms and skin impression are also present. The fossil skeleton was discovered by William Edmund Cutler, an independent fossil collector in 1914 at Quarry 80 of the Deadlodge Canyon locality. It was collected from the bottom of the Dinosaur Park ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
