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Ankylosaurs
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. They are known to have first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, and persisted until the end of the Cretaceous Period. The two main families of Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae and Ankylosauridae are primarily known from the Northern Hemisphere, but the more basal Parankylosauria are known from southern Gondwana during the Cretaceous. Ankylosauria was first named by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1923.Osborn, H. F. (1923). "Two Lower Cretaceous dinosaurs of Mongolia." ''American Museum Novitates'', 95: 1–1/ref> In the Linnaean classification system, the group is usually considered either a suborder or an infraorder. It is contained within the group Thyreophora, which also includes the stegosaurs, armored dinosaurs known for their combination of plate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akainacephalus
''Akainacephalus'' (meaning "thorn head") is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from southern Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian, 76.26 Ma) in what is now the Horse Mountain Gryposaur Quarry of the Kaiparowits Formation. The type and only species, ''Akainacephalus johnsoni'', is known from the most complete ankylosaur specimen ever discovered from southern Laramidia, including a complete skull, tail club, a number of osteoderms, limb elements and part of its pelvis, among other remains. It was described in 2018 by Jelle P. Wiersma and Randall B. Irmis. It is closely related and shares similar cranial anatomy to ''Nodocephalosaurus''. Discovery and naming An almost complete skeleton of an ankylosaurid was excavated during the 2008, 2009, and 2010 field seasons from the Horse Mountain Gryposaur (HMG) Quarry in the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, Kane County, Utah. The Horse Mountain Gryposaur Quarry represents a multitaxic and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ankylosauridae
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parankylosauria
Parankylosauria is a group of basal ankylosaurian dinosaurs known from the Cretaceous of South America, Antarctica, and Australia. It is thought the group split from other ankylosaurs during the mid-Jurassic period, despite this being unpreserved in the fossil record. History of research During the Mesozoic era, the southern continents (South America, Antarctica, Australia, and Africa in addition to India and Zealandia) were unified into a supercontinent known as Gondwana. This was in contrast to the supercontinent of Laurasia in the Northern Hemisphere, with both originating from the breakup of Pangaea. Gondwana itself gradually split apart over the course of the Jurassic and Cretaceous eras. Ankylosaurian dinosaurs from Laurasia have historically been far more extensively recorded and studied. Reports of the group in Gondwana date back to 1904, with a specimen from Australia and include referrals of ''Loricosaurus'', '' Lametasaurus'', and ''Brachypodosaurus'' to group among as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nodosauridae
Nodosauridae is a family of ankylosaurian dinosaurs, from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period in what is now North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Description Nodosaurids, like their close relatives the ankylosaurids, were heavily armored dinosaurs adorned with rows of bony armor nodules and spines (osteoderms), which were covered in keratin sheaths. All nodosaurids, like other ankylosaurians, were medium-sized to large, heavily built, quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaurs, possessing small, leaf-shaped teeth. Unlike ankylosaurids, nodosaurids lacked mace-like tail clubs, instead having flexible tail tips. Many nodosaurids had spikes projecting outward from their shoulders. One particularly well-preserved nodosaurid "mummy", known as the Suncor nodosaur (''Borealopelta markmitchelli''), preserved a nearly complete set of armor in life position, as well as the keratin covering and mineralized remains of the underlying skin, which indicate reddish dorsal pigme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cryptosaurus
''Cryptosaurus'' (meaning "hidden lizard") is a dubious genus of dinosaur known from a partial femur from the Late Jurassic of England. The sole species is ''Cryptosaurus eumerus''. The femur was found by the geologist Lucas Ewbank and donated by him to the Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge in 1869. ''Cryptosaurus'' was the same year named by British paleontologist Harry Seeley; the type species is ''Cryptosaurus eumerus''. The genus name is derived from Greek ''kryptos'', "hidden", a reference to the rarity of the find. The specific name means "well-formed thigh" in Greek, a reference to the stout build of the bone. The description of 1869, part of a catalogue of the Cambridge University collection, was rather minimal, consisting of the single sentence "On Shelf g is temporarily placed the femur of a Dinosaur from the Oxford Clay, Cryptosaurus eumerus". From this it is sometimes concluded that the name remained a ''nomen nudum'' until a full description by Seeley in 1875. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarcolestes
''Sarcolestes'' (meaning "flesh robber") is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian ornithischian dinosaur from the Oxford Clay of England. The current type and only species is ''S. leedsi'', and the holotype is a single partial left mandible. The genus and species were named in 1893 by Richard Lydekker, who thought they belonged to a theropod. Discovery ''Sarcolestes'' was first named in 1893 by Richard Lydekker, and its type species was designated as ''S. leedsi''. The specific name was to honour Alfred Nicholson Leeds, the discoverer of the specimen, and many others like it. The holotype and only specimen, is a partial left mandible and fused scute that was damaged during excavation. The jaw preserved one entire tooth and two crown tips in its alveolus, with the missing bone in the central section of the mandible. It lacks a preserved predentary, even though the entire mandibular symphysis is preserved and complete. Classification Originally, Lydekker found that ''Sarcolestes'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinankylosaurus
''Sinankylosaurus'' (meaning "Chinese fused lizard") is a genus of dinosaur, originally described as an ankylosaur, from the late Cretaceous Period of Shandong, China. The genus contains a single species, ''Sinankylosaurus zhuchengensis'', known from a nearly complete right ilium. The describers claim that the discovery of ''Sinankylosaurus'' further demonstrates the similarity between dinosaurs of eastern Asia and western North America. Discovery and naming Beginning in 1964, paleontologists conducted large-scale excavations in Zhucheng and discovered an abundant source of fossils; notably dinosaur fossils. ZJZ-183, the holotype specimen, was discovered with the ''Zhuchengtyrannus'' holotype in the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group (specifically the Hongtuya Formation) in Zhucheng, Shandong Province, China around 2010. The fossil was prepared during the following years and was later described in 2020. Description Because it is only known from an ilium, the external appearance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spicomellus
''Spicomellus'' (meaning "collar of spikes") is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived in the supercontinent Gondwana during the Middle Jurassic Period. The type and only known species is ''Spicomellus afer'', named and described in 2021. Its remains were found in the third subunit of the El Mers Group (Bathonian-Callovian), near Boulahfa, south of Boulemane, Fès-Meknès, Morocco. The genus name means "spiked collar", from the Latin 'spica' meaning spike, and 'mellum' meaning spiked dog collar and the specific name 'afer' means "the African". During the Jurassic, eurypodan dinosaurs, in particular stegosaurs, were diverse and abundant in Laurasia (nowadays the northern continents), but their remains are extremely rare in Gondwanan deposits, nowadays the southern continents. Nevertheless, the existence of fragmentary remains and trackways in the deposits of Gondwana indicates the presence of eurypodan taxa there. ''Spicomellus'' is the second des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stegosaurides
''Stegosaurides'' (meaning "''Stegosaurus''-shaped") is a genus of herbivorous thyreophoran (perhaps ankylosaurid or possibly stegosaurian) dinosaur. It lived during the Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in the Xinminbao Group near Heishan in Gansu Province in China. These fossils consist of fragmentary material, including dermal spine elements. The genus is occasionally misspelled as "Stegosauroides". Discovery and species In 1930, Anders Birger Bohlin during the Swedish-Chinese expedition of Sven Hedin excavated fossils at Hui-Hui-Pu, between the Heishan en Ku’an-t’ai-shan mountain ranges, near Xinminbao, in the west of Gansu. These included two vertebrae of about eleven centimetres in length and a dermal spine base.B. Bohlin, (1953), ''Fossil reptiles from Mongolia and Kansu. Reports from the Scientific Expedition to the North-western Provinces of China under Leadership of Dr. Sven Hedin. VI. Vertebrate Palaeontology 6.'' The Sino-Swedish Expedition Publications 37, 11 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mymoorapelta
''Mymoorapelta'' (Meaning "Vannetta Moore and Pete and Marilyn Mygatt's shield" after a combination of the names of the discoverers of the Mygatt-Moore Quarry that fossils were originally collected from, and pɛltə "shield") is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur, a group of heavily armored, herbivorous, quadrupedal dinosaurs, from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian- Tithonian, around 155 to 150 million years ago) Morrison Formation (Brushy Basin Member) of western Colorado and central Utah, USA. Few specimens are known, but the most complete one is the holotype individual from the Mygatt-Moore Quarry that includes many osteoderms, a partial skull, vertebrae, and other bones. It was initially described by James Kirkland and Kenneth Carpenter in 1994. Along with ''Gargoyleosaurus'', it is one of the earliest known nodosaurids. ''Mymoorapleta'' is one of the smaller known nodosaurids, with the estimated length of the largest specimen only reaching . It had a narrow snou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gastonia (dinosaur)
''Gastonia'' is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of North America, around 139 to 125 million years ago. It is often considered a nodosaurid closely related to ''Polacanthus''. ''Gastonia'' has a sacral shield and large shoulder spikes. Discovery and species The type specimen of ''Gastonia burgei'' ( CEUM 1307) was discovered in a bonebed from the limestone strata of the lower Cedar Mountain Formation in Yellow Cat Quarry, Grand County, eastern Utah, the type specimen consisting of a single skull. The type specimen was found alongside 4 partial skeletons of ''Gastonia that'' were placed as paratypes, along with the type specimen of '' Utahraptor'' and an Iguanodontid. ''Gastonia'' is among the most common dinosaur fossils in the Cedar Mountain Formation, with many individuals being found across several quarries in the southwest.Kirkland, J.I. (1998). A polacanthine ankylosaur (Ornithischia: Dinosauria) from the Early Cretaceous (Barremia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tianchiasaurus
''Tianchisaurus'' (meaning "heavenly pool lizard"), also invalidly called ''Tianchiasaurus'' and "Jurassosaurus", is a genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ... of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian (stage), Oxfordian–Kimmeridgian)-aged Toutunhe Formation of China. If it actually belongs to the family Ankylosauridae as proposed by Dong Zhiming, it would be the second earliest member of that family, being slightly younger than ''Spicomellus''. Unlike other ankylosaurids, it lacked a bony club (zoology), club at the tip of its tail. Discovery and naming The holotype (IVPP V. 10614), discovered in 1974, consists of skull fragments, five cervicals, six dorsals, seven sacrals, and three caudals, limb fragments, scutes and some unidentifiable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
