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''Panoplosaurus'' is a
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of armoured dinosaur from the
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 ...
of
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Few specimens of the genus are known, all from the middle Campanian of the Dinosaur Park Formation, roughly 76 to 75 million years ago. It was first discovered in 1917, and named in 1919 by
Lawrence Lambe Lawrence Morris Lambe (August 27, 1863 – March 12, 1919) was a Canadian geologist, palaeontologist, and ecologist from the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). His published work, describing the diverse and plentiful dinosaur discoveries from th ...
, named for its extensive armour, meaning "well-armoured lizard". ''Panoplosaurus'' has at times been considered the proper name for material otherwise referred to as '' Edmontonia'', complicating its phylogenetic and ecological interpretations, at one point being considered to have existed across Alberta,
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
and
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, with specimens in institutions from Canada and the United States. The skull and skeleton of ''Panoplosaurus'' are similar to its relatives, but have a few significant differences, such as the lumpy form of the skull osteoderms, a completely fused
shoulder blade The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either ...
, and regularly shaped plates on its neck and body lacking prominent spines. It was a quadrupedal animal, roughly long and in weight. The skull has a short snout, with a very domed surface, and bony plates directly covering the cheek. The neck had circular groups of plates arranged around the top surface, both the
forelimb A forelimb or front limb is one of the paired articulated appendages (limbs) attached on the cranial ( anterior) end of a terrestrial tetrapod vertebrate's torso. With reference to quadrupeds, the term foreleg or front leg is often used instead. ...
and
hindlimb A hindlimb or back limb is one of the paired articulated appendages (limbs) attached on the caudal ( posterior) end of a terrestrial tetrapod vertebrate's torso.http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/hind%20limb, Merriam Webster Dictionary-Hindl ...
were about the same length, and the hand may have only included three fingers. Almost the entire surface of the body was covered in plates, osteoderms and scutes of varying sizes, ranging from large elements along the skull and neck, to smaller, round bones underneath the chin and body, to small ossicles that filled in the spaces between other, larger osteoderms. ''Panoplosaurus'' was originally classified as a
stegosaur Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, ...
related to the similarly armoured form '' Ankylosaurus'', a group that was later divided with
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. ...
becoming their own group. It was then considered close to ''Edmontonia'' in the subfamily
Panoplosaurinae Panoplosaurini (derived from ''Panoplosaurus'', "all shield reptile") is a clade of nodosaurid ankylosaurs from the Cretaceous of North America and South America. The group is defined as the largest clade containing ''Panoplosaurus mirus'', but n ...
, but then moved into a general placement in Nodosauridae. ''Edmontonia'' was for a time considered the same taxon as ''Panoplosaurus'', making it the only nodosaur from the Campanian of North America, but this was quickly disputed and they are now considered separate. Following consistent placements in phylogenetic analyses close to ''Edmontonia'' and the American taxon '' Animantarx'', ''Panoplosaurus'' was placed into the clade Panoplosaurini, related but not close to ''
Nodosaurus ''Nodosaurus'' (meaning "knobbed lizard") is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, the fossils of which are found exclusively in the Frontier Formation in Wyoming. Description ''Nodosaurus'' grew ...
'' or ''
Struthiosaurus ''Struthiosaurus'' (Latin ''struthio'' = ostrich + Greek ''sauros'' = lizard) is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaurs, from the Late Cretaceous period (Santonian-Maastrichtian) of Austria, Romania, France and Hungary in Europe.
'', which it was considered close to around when it was named. ''Panoplosaurus'' is from deposits slightly younger than ''Edmontonia rugosidens'', and existed alongside
hadrosaurids Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which includ ...
like '' Corythosaurus'' and ''
Lambeosaurus ''Lambeosaurus'' ( , meaning " Lambe's lizard") is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived about 75 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period (Campanian stage) of North America. This bipedal/quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaur is kn ...
'',
ceratopsids Ceratopsidae (sometimes spelled Ceratopidae) is a family of ceratopsian dinosaurs including ''Triceratops'', ''Centrosaurus'', and ''Styracosaurus''. All known species were quadrupedal herbivores from the Upper Cretaceous. All but one species are k ...
like '' Centrosaurus'', and the tyrannosaurid '' Gorgosaurus'', as well as other small dinosaurs like '' Stegoceras'', '' Dromaeosaurus'' and '' Ornithomimus'', and various fishes, amphibians, crocodiles and pterosaurs.


Discovery

In
1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...
, Canadian paleontologist
Charles M. Sternberg Charles Mortram Sternberg (1885–1981) was an American-Canadian fossil collector and paleontology, paleontologist, son of Charles Hazelius Sternberg. Late in his career, he collected and described ''Pachyrhinosaurus'', ''Brachylophosaurus'', ' ...
of the Geological Survey of Canada discovered a complete skull and significant amount of the skeleton of an armoured dinosaur in the sandstone layers of Quarry 69 of the Belly River Group, above sea level. The specimen, designated by the
Canadian Museum of Nature The Canadian Museum of Nature (french: Musée canadien de la nature; CMN) is a national natural history museum based in Canada's National Capital Region. The museum's exhibitions and public programs are housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum Bui ...
accession number CMN 2759, and excavated south of the mouth of the Little Sandhill tributary of the Red Deer River in
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, includes a nearly complete skull in articulation, most or all of the
cervical vertebrae In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...
and the front dorsal vertebrae, and armour plates covering them, a majority of the disarticulated
forelimb A forelimb or front limb is one of the paired articulated appendages (limbs) attached on the cranial ( anterior) end of a terrestrial tetrapod vertebrate's torso. With reference to quadrupeds, the term foreleg or front leg is often used instead. ...
and three articulated fingers, a fragment of the
pelvis The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The ...
and partial
sacrum The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part ...
, a few bones of the
foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...
, and multiple hundreds of osteoderms and dermal ossicles. This material was being described by Canadian paleontologist
Lawrence M. Lambe Lawrence Morris Lambe (August 27, 1863 – March 12, 1919) was a Canadian geologist, palaeontologist, and ecologist from the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). His published work, describing the diverse and plentiful dinosaur discoveries from t ...
of the Geological Society, who completed the description of the skull and osteoderms prior to his death in March of
1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...
. Lambe's work was published posthumously by the Royal Society of Canada, where he named the new material as ''Panoplosaurus mirus'', and a supplemental description of the vertebrae and limb material, which Lambe had not yet gotten to, was published by Sternberg in
1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...
. The name ''Panoplosaurus'' derived from the hoplon of Greece, translating as "well -armoured lizard". While the beds of discovery of the holotype, CMN 2759, were originally described as the Belly River beds, they are now considered part of the upper level of the Dinosaur Park Formation, pertaining to the late middle Campanian, 75 to 76 million years ago. Many additional specimens have since been referred to the genus, including
Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...
(ROM) 1215 and
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (RTMP, and often referred to as the Royal Tyrrell Museum) is a palaeontology museum and research facility in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. The museum was named in honour of Joseph Burr Tyrrell, and is situa ...
(RTMP) 83.25.2 from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, and an unnumbered Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (OMNH) scapulocoracoid from the
Aguja Formation The Aguja Formation is a geological formation in North America, exposed in Texas, United States and Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico, whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered f ...
of
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. A scapula from the Naashoibito member of the Kirtland Formation in
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
was referred to ''Panoplosaurus'' in
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
, but as it is from a different age and location from other specimens, may instead represent the ankylosaurid taxon ''
Nodocephalosaurus ''Nodocephalosaurus'' (meaning "knob headed lizard") is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian to early Maastrichtian stage, 73.49 to 73.04 Ma) in what is now the De-na- ...
'', although this is uncertain due to lack of overlapping material. 18 other specimens in the ROM, CMN,
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
, and Princeton University were referred to the genus by Walter P. Coombs in
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, but these were referred on the assumption that '' Edmontonia'' was a synonym of ''Panoplosaurus'', which was considered unjustified by Kenneth Carpenter in a
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review on
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 ...
nodosaurids. The referral of ROM 1215 to ''Panoplosaurus'' was questioned by Coombs in 1990, and Roland A. Gangloff referred it and the Alaskan specimen DPMWA 90–25 to ''Edmontonia'' in
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based on the anatomy of the lack of diagnostic traits, but Victoria Arbour and colleagues retained ROM 1215 in ''Panoplosaurus'' in
2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
, limiting the genus to it, the holotype CMN 2759, and specimen AMNH 3072, all from the upper Dinosaur Park Formation. Arbour and
Philip J. Currie Philip John Currie (born March 13, 1949) is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the ...
further restricted ''Panoplosaurus'' to just the holotype in
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, as a result of uncertainties surrounding the referrals of various specimens between it, ''
Edmontonia rugosidens ''Edmontonia'' is a genus of panoplosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. It is part of the Nodosauridae, a family within Ankylosauria. It is named after the Edmonton Formation (now the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Canada) ...
'' and '' Edmontonia longiceps'', all from the Dinosaur Park Formation and similar deposits.


Description

''Panoplosaurus'' was a rather large animal at , a comparable size to other ankylosaurs from the same location, and heavier than or approximately equivalent to all predators it coexisted with. ''Panoplosaurus'' was about long, and was armoured like most ankylosaurs, but lacked prominent spikes anywhere on its body. The characteristics of its armour are one of the features that distinguishes ''Panoplosaurus'' from its relative and contemporary ''Edmontonia'', along with a tapering snout, lumpy cranial armour, a swollen vomer bone in the palate, tall neural arches and neural spines in the vertebrae, a small and round coracoid fused to the scapula, and a hand that may have only had three digits. There is also a prominent armour plate covering the cheek in the type specimen of ''Panoplosaurus'', which may be unique feature of the taxon, or individual, depending on what additional skulls are referred to ''P. mirus''.


Skull

The skull of ''Panoplosaurus'' is broad and depressed, narrowing towards the end of the blunt snout to form a triangular shape. At a total length of in a straight line, the skull is curved in a way that across the the same length is . Behind the , the skull reaches its maximum width of , giving it a very short and broad appearance. As other nodosaurid specimens from the same location that may be referred to ''Panoplosaurus'' lack the distinctively short snout of the holotype, it may be that its unique appearance is due to it being a different age or sex than other individuals. The orbits of ''Panoplosaurus'' are very small, and placed far from the snout, which is very squared and bearing laterally open nostrils. Bony plates are present across the entire exterior of the skull, including large osteoderms on all the sides of the skull and mandible, small scutes within the nostrils, and underneath the head in the form of an aggregation of small ossicles covering the surface between the two lower jaws. The , where the skull articulates with the neck, is short and thick, facing nearly directly downwards, which would have meant the head was held with the snout down in life, about 20 degrees below the horizontal. Unlike in ''Edmontonia'', the groove separating cranial osteoderms in ''Panoplosaurus'' never disappear, which show that there is a unique narrow scute across the entire rear of the skull. Due to fusion and the covering of osteoderms, the only individual bone of the long mandible than can be identified is the . The rami diverge strongly towards the read of the skull, where they curve inwards at the jaw articulation, and towards the front they bend inwards slightly where the predentary articulates with the , with the thin predentaries meeting at the midline of the jaw. The mandibles are deepest near the rear of the skull, approximately maintaining their depth along the tooth row before narrowing sharply at the front where the predentaries are. Predentaries, which make up the lower portion of the snout, are somewhat horseshoe-shaped, form a sharp beak that fits within the overhang of the in the upper jaw. Both the predentaries and their premaxillary counterparts lack any teeth, a derived feature among nodosaurids where premaxillary teeth are sometimes present. The teeth of the mandible are hidden by armour on the right side, and on the left side of the skull where the cheek plate is not in place, the mandibular teeth are hidden by the teeth of the in the upper jaw. Eight maxillary teeth are preserved, and though it is not certain that was the full tooth count there is not room for many more in the jaw. All the teeth are similar to those of ''Edmontonia'' and '' Palaeoscincus'', with a mild expansion of the crown above the root (), and formed by prominent ridges on both the front and rear edges of the crown, though there are more on the front than rear edge of the tooth. There are not significant differences between the teeth of ''Panoplosaurus'' and those of other armoured dinosaurs.


Postcranial skeleton

The number of vertebrae in ''Panoplosaurus'' is unknown, as the dorsal and
caudal Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...
series' are incomplete, and the
cervical vertebrae In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...
are obscured by armour. The first three cervicals after the skull are fused together into one single ossification, a feature unique to ''Panoplosaurus'' and ''Edmontonia'' among ankylosaurs. Following the fused atlas-axis-third cervical complex, the next three cervicals are all identifiable, but very morphologically conservative, without significant differences along the series, all vertebrae being . Dorsal vertebrae are poorly preserved where present, but the , but the synsacrum, as in other nodosaurids, is partially complete. Sternberg identified that the
ilium Ilium or Ileum may refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Ilion (Asia Minor), former name of Troy * Ilium (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium, ancient name of Cestria (Epirus), an ancient city in Epirus, Greece * Ilium Building, a ...
of ''Panoplosaurus'' was supported by at least six vertebrae in 1921, which he identified as a dorsosacral, four true
sacral vertebrae The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part ...
, and a caudosacral. The identification of four sacrals was questioned by Carpenter in 1990, as ''Edmontonia'' only has three true sacrals, but he was not able to definitively identify the first sacral of Sternberg as a dorsosacral. The neural spines of all four sacrals are fused into a single plate-like process. Few caudals are known in ''Panoplosaurus'', but where preserved they are very similar to the corresponding elements of '' Ankylosaurus''. In ''Panoplosaurus'' the scapula and coracoid are completely fused together, with the only indication of the bone separation being a slight thickening along what would be the suture. The scapular region of the bone is relatively short, but is concave following the curvature of the body and curves down towards its
distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...
end. Because of the curvature of the blade, the coracoid in ''Panoplosaurus'' sat at the front of the chest, as in '' Stegosaurus'', '' Triceratops'' and '' Hadrosaurus''. The top margin of the scapula forms a shelf as it approaches the coracoid, terminating in a prominent that projects outwards from the animal, and directly overhangs a large attachment area for the deltoid muscle. The scapula itself is long, and the coracoid is . The complete fusion of the scapulocoracoid is unique to ''Panoplosaurus''. The
humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...
is a robust, long bone, with the shape and projection of the head suggesting the upper arm of ''Panoplosaurus'' was held in a flexed position in life. The only other portions of the forelimb known are three well-preserved, articulated digits of the hand, which may represent the complete hand suggesting ''Panoplosaurus'' had fewer fingers than its relatives. The was splayed, with two on the first digit, and three on the second and third. All bones were hoof-shaped, lacking a point and bearing a flat bottom. The only portions of the
pelvis The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The ...
and
hindlimb A hindlimb or back limb is one of the paired articulated appendages (limbs) attached on the caudal ( posterior) end of a terrestrial tetrapod vertebrate's torso.http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/hind%20limb, Merriam Webster Dictionary-Hindl ...
that are known in ''Panoplosaurus'' are the tibia, fibula, and a few isolated bones from the foot, the remainder being unpreserved. The right tibia and fibula were found still in articulation, with the tibia being noticeably longer than the fibula. As in ankylosaurids, the tibia of ''Panoplosaurus'' was shorter than the humerus, which contrasts with ''Stegosaurus'' and basal taxa like '' Scelidosaurus''. This suggests that the forelimb of ''Panoplosaurus'' was only slightly shorter than the forelimbs. Both the metatarsal and phalanges of the foot resemble the corresponding elements of the hand, but are slightly larger and more robust. Though the tibia and fibula of ''Panoplosaurus'' are crushed, they appear to be straighter than the elements in ''Edmontonia'', which are curved along their length.


Armour

Armour from the neck and trunk of ''Panoplosaurus'', some of it still in articulation with bones, is known. A gradient of sizes exist from plate-like paired elements through to indistinct ossicles. Where they have a distinct shape, the osteoderms are keeled, with the strength of the keel dependent on location. Lambe identified 7 different categories of osteoderms in his 1919 description of ''Panoplosaurus''. The first kind was large, paired elements with a low keel, which formed bands around the neck leading from the head. On the sides of the neck to the back was a second kind, individual elements that were slightly smaller, suboval, and had a strong keel. Small, keeled scutes with a thick base were identified as the fourth osteoderm type, occurring on the underside of the base of the neck forwards to the chin. A fifth kind of osteoderms was identified as small, polygonal elements that fit together along the underside of ''Panoplosaurus'', slowly grading into the larger rectangular elements of category two on the sides. Small irregular scutes lacking a keel were identified as a sixth form, and were suggested to have been from the limbs, though this was not definitive. The final form of scute were small ossicles, which occurred all over the animal filling in gaps between the larger osteoderms. The scutes along the top and sides of the neck in ''Panoplosaurus'' are the most distinct form, differing significantly from the corresponding elements in ''Edmontonia''. Three bands of cervical osteoderms were present in both genera, consisting of rounder plates that united on the midline of the animal, and one narrower element on each side with a sharp keel. In ''Panoplosaurus'' both the first and second bands of neck osteoderms had a third pair, lower on the side of the animal, again possessing a sharper keel than the elements on the top of the neck. While ''Edmontonia'' possesses lateral spines on the rear neck and shoulders, these are absent in ''Panoplosaurus''. The arrangement of the armour on the torso and tail of ''Panoplosaurus'' is unknown, as no elements were found in articulation or association with this region of the skeleton.


Classification

''Panoplosaurus'' was originally named simply as a genus of armoured dinosaur by Lambe in 1919, within the group
Stegosauria Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, ...
, though it was subsequently specified by Sternberg in 1921 that within Stegosauria it was closest to taxa like '' Ankylosaurus'' and '' Euoplocephalus'', and so within Ankylosauridae. The description of the new genus ''Edmontonia'' in
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
by Sternberg identified it as a very close relative of ''Panoplosaurus'', almost close enough to be considered the same genus, both being closely related to '' Palaeoscincus''. Following further description of the armoured taxon ''
Struthiosaurus ''Struthiosaurus'' (Latin ''struthio'' = ostrich + Greek ''sauros'' = lizard) is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaurs, from the Late Cretaceous period (Santonian-Maastrichtian) of Austria, Romania, France and Hungary in Europe.
'' by
Franz Nopcsa Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...
in
1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
, a different classification war proposed. Thyreophora replaced Stegosauria as the clade encompassing multiple families, with ''Panoplosaurus'' falling alongside ''Edmontonia'', '' Dyoplosaurus'', '' Hierosaurus'', '' Scolosaurus'' and '' Stegopelta'' within the new subfamily
Panoplosaurinae Panoplosaurini (derived from ''Panoplosaurus'', "all shield reptile") is a clade of nodosaurid ankylosaurs from the Cretaceous of North America and South America. The group is defined as the largest clade containing ''Panoplosaurus mirus'', but n ...
, which formed the family Nodosauridae with Nodosaurinae, Ankylosaurinae and
Acanthopholinae 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, w ...
. Nopcsa's classification of Panoplosaurinae was amended slightly by
Charles W. Gilmore Charles Whitney Gilmore (March 11, 1874 – September 27, 1945) was an American paleontologist who gained renown in the early 20th century for his work on vertebrate fossils during his career at the United States National Museum (now the N ...
in
1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
, who moved ''Palaeoscincus'' into the subfamily and removed ''Dyoplosaurus'', which was discovered to have the skull of an ankylosaurine. ''Panoplosaurus'' was then placed in the new subfamily
Edmontoniinae 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, w ...
by Loris S. Russell in
1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...
, along with ''Edmontonia'' and ''Palaeoscincus'', an equivalent classification to Gilmore's where Panoplosaurinae was used. Disagreeing with the classifications based on the work of Nopcsa, Evgeny Maleev moved ''Panoplosaurus'' into the family Ankylosauridae, which he considered to contain all ankylosaurs except ''
Syrmosaurus ''Pinacosaurus'' (meaning "Plank lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian- Campanian, roughly 75 million to 71 million years ago), mainly in Mongolia and China. The firs ...
''. Coombs reviewed and revised the classifications of Ankylosauria in 1978, which he used as the group to encompass all heavily armoured ornithischians in a similar usage to Nodosauridae of Nopcsa. Within this suborder, he divided all taxa into two families, Ankylosauridae and Nodosauridae, distinguished by cranial and postcranial anatomy. Within Nodosauridae, which he considered a senior synonym of Acanthopholinae, Panoplosaurinae, Edmontoniinae, and other equivalent names, Coombs synonymized ''Panoplosaurus'' with ''Edmontonia'', making ''Panoplosaurus'' the only Late Cretaceous nodosaurid from North America. Panoplosaurinae was then revived in
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...
by Paul Sereno, who used it to unite ''Panoplosaurus'', ''
Sauropelta ''Sauropelta'' ( ; meaning 'lizard shield') is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaur that existed in the Early Cretaceous Period of North America. One species (''S. edwardsorum'') has been named although others may have existed. Anatomically, ''Saurop ...
'', ''
Silvisaurus ''Silvisaurus'', from the Latin silva "woodland" and Greek sauros "lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Early to Late Cretaceous period. Discovery and species A fossil of the species was discovered in the fifties by rancher Warren H. ...
'' and ''
Struthiosaurus ''Struthiosaurus'' (Latin ''struthio'' = ostrich + Greek ''sauros'' = lizard) is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaurs, from the Late Cretaceous period (Santonian-Maastrichtian) of Austria, Romania, France and Hungary in Europe.
'' within Nodosauridae, excluding '' Hylaeosaurus'' and '' Polacanthus''. Robert Bakker then redescribed specimens from the Late Cretaceous of North America in
1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
, prompting him to separate ''Edmontonia rugosidens'' into the new subgenus ''
Chassternbergia ''Edmontonia'' is a genus of panoplosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. It is part of the Nodosauridae, a family within Ankylosauria. It is named after the Edmonton Formation (now the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Can ...
'', remove a specimen from ''Edmontonia longiceps'' making it the new genus '' Denversaurus'', and identify a former specimen of ''Panoplosaurus mirus'' as ''P.'' sp.. To distinguish the ''Panoplosaurus'' species from the ''Edmontonia'' complex, Bakker placed ''Panoplosaurus'' in Panoplosaurinae, and ''Edmontonia'', ''Chassternbergia'' and ''Denversaurus'' in Edmontoniinae, uniting the two subfamilies into the family
Edmontoniidae Panoplosaurini (derived from '' Panoplosaurus'', "all shield reptile") is a clade of nodosaurid ankylosaurs from the Cretaceous of North America and South America. The group is defined as the largest clade containing ''Panoplosaurus mirus'', but n ...
, which he placed in
Nodosauroidea 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, w ...
, the family Nodosauridae of Coombs' use elevated to superfamily rank. Carpenter further reviewed Late Cretaceous North American nodosaurids in 1990, concluding that Bakker's justification for separation was lacking; placing ''Chassternbergia'' and ''Denversaurus'' as junior synonyms of ''Edmontonia'', and only narrowing down the classification of ''Panoplosaurus'' and ''Edmontonia'' to Nodosauridae. In
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
, Sereno modified his earlier position, using the name Nodosaurinae for the group of derived nodosaurids including ''Panoplosaurus'', and informally defining the subfamily as all taxa closer to ''Panoplosaurus'' than ''
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 ...
'' or ''Hylaeosaurus''. Tracy Ford published a novel classification of ''Panoplosaurus'' in
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, using osteoderm anatomy to divide Nodosauridae into Nodosaurinae including only ''
Nodosaurus ''Nodosaurus'' (meaning "knobbed lizard") is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, the fossils of which are found exclusively in the Frontier Formation in Wyoming. Description ''Nodosaurus'' grew ...
'',
Sauropeltinae 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, w ...
including ''Sauropelta'' and ''Silvisaurus'', Edmontoniinae including ''Edmontonia'' and a distinct ''Chassternbergia'', and Panoplosaurinae including only ''Panoplosaurus''. The first phylogenetic analysis to include ''Panoplosaurus'' was that of Yuong-Nam Lee in
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, where ''Panoplosaurus mirus'', including both CMN 2759 and ROM 1215 nested next to ''Edmontonia'', which included both ''E. longiceps'' and ''E. rugosidens'', to the exclusion of all other nodosaurids. A similar union of ''Panoplosaurus'' and ''Edmontonia'' was recovered in
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
by Jim Kirkland and colleagues, but the
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
analysis of Carpenter instead recovered ''Edmontonia'' closest to '' Animantarx'', while ''Panoplosaurus'' nested next to a clade of ''Sauropelta'' and ''Silvisaurus''. The
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analysis of Robert Hill and colleagues resolved a group of ''Edmontonia'' and ''Animantarx'', with ''Panoplosaurus'' as the sister taxon, and the analysis of Matthew Vickaryous ''et al.'' recovered ''Panoplosaurus'' and ''Edmontonia'' as sisters, though ''Animantarx'' was not analysed. Expansions on the analysis of Vickaryous and colleagues resolved the same clade of ''Panoplosaurus'' and ''Edmontonia'' with the additions of the nodosaurid ''
Hungarosaurus ''Hungarosaurus tormai'' is a herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Csehbánya Formation of the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary. It is the most completely known ankylosaur from the Cretaceous of Europe. Di ...
'', the ankylosaurid ''
Crichtonsaurus benxiensis ''Crichtonsaurus'' (meaning "Crichton's lizard") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now China. It was named after Michael Crichton, the author of the dinosaur novel ''Jurassic Park'' ...
'', the nodosaurid ''Struthiosaurus'', and the supposed ankylosaurid ''
Tatankacephalus ''Tatankacephalus'' is a basal genus of nodosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous. Its length has been estimated at 7 meters (23 ft). Its fossil has been collected from the Cloverly Formation (Aptian-Albian) of central Mon ...
''. The next novel analysis was that of Richard Thompson and colleagues in
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, combining previous ankylosaurian analyses into a single one to analyse both Nodosauridae and Ankylosauridae. ''Panoplosaurus'' was resolved next to ''Edmontonia'', deep within an unresolved polytomy of all nodosaurids more derived than ''Animantarx'', which included '' Niobrarasaurus'', ''Nodosaurus'', ''Pawpawsaurus'', ''Sauropelta'', ''Silvisaurus'', '' Stegopelta'', and '' Texasetes''. In
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, the phylogenetic analysis of Arbour and Currie initially meant to test the relationships of Ankylosauridae was expanded to include many of the nodosaurids known at the time, with ''Panoplosaurus'' limited to the holotype due to a lack of consensus about referred specimens. Following further modifications and expansions, ''Panoplosaurus'' was continually found within a group including ''Edmontonia'' and also at times ''Animantarx'', ''Texasetes'', ''Denversaurus'' (if considered separate from ''Edmontonia'') and an unnamed ankylosaur from Argentina. As a result of this consistent support, Daniel Madzia and colleagues decided to name the clade uniting all taxa closer to ''Panoplosaurus'' than ''Nodosaurus'' or ''Struthiosaurus'', giving it the formal name Panoplosaurini, modifying the suffix ''-inae'' from previous uses as it was continually nested within the clade Nodosaurinae. The reference phylogeny for Panoplosaurini designated by Madzia and colleagues was that of Rivera-Sylva ''et al.'' (
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), which is a modified version of the Arbour and Currie analysis expanded to include the
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
taxon '' Acantholipan''. Their results can be seen below.


Paleobiology


Feeding

Ankylosaurs were traditionally viewed as having a generic method of feeding due to their simple teeth, stiff skulls, and unspecialized musculature, comparable to modern iguanids. However, unlike iguanids ankylosaurs frequently have significant tooth wear, sometimes all the way down to the base of the crown. Nodosaurids normally have oblique wear facets on teeth, in ''Panoplosaurus'' having a single wear facet per tooth which changes angulation across the tooth row, going from sub-vertical at the snout to nearly horizontal at the back of the mouth. This differs from ankylosaurids, but may be due to the alignment of teeth between the upper and lower jaws, instead of a difference in form of
mastication Chewing or mastication is the process by which food is crushed and ground by teeth. It is the first step of digestion, and it increases the surface area of foods to allow a more efficient break down by enzymes. During the mastication process, th ...
. While the shape of teeth in ''Panoplosaurus'' and other ankylosaurs suggests a simple, soft food diet, their variability implies a less restrictive feeding strategy. Nodosaurid teeth are more blade-shaped than those of ankylosaurids, a possible evolutionary response to a tougher, fibrous diet. However, microwear on the teeth of ankylosaurids and ''Panoplosaurus'' instead show that their diets were not significantly different, with regular pitting and abrasion showing a diet consisting occasionally of fruit as well as more abundant foliage. Stomach contents of the closely related taxon '' Borealopelta'' were identified amongst
gastroliths A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stone, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In othe ...
, showing that at least it had a diet regularly consisting of almost 85% fern material, along with 3.7% cycad matter, trace elements of
conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
s, and 11.4% undiagnostic plant remains. Gastroliths may have been found with ''Panoplosaurus'' as well, but their identification is uncertain as they were not originally mentioned among the material found as part of the specimen.


Airways and senses

While nodosaurids were traditionally thought to have had simply sinuses, lacking complicated cavities and paranasal sinuses. While this can be seen in some taxa like ''Edmontonia'', the nasal system of ''Panoplosaurus'' is far more complex than previously thought. The complete nasal passage of ''Panoplosaurus'' undergoes two complete 360 degree loops in different planes along its length, before entering the olfactory recess for scent processing. However, while the shape of the nasal passages is more complicated, ''Panoplosaurus'' does lack the additional parallel sinus tracts that can be found in ankylosaurids like ''Euoplocephalus''. It is possible that the function of these complicated sinuses was to warm incoming air as it passed through the skull. Inflowing air in ''Panoplosaurus'' was simulated to undergo a raise of between , primarily in the elongate nasal passage, while saturating the air with moisture. This is less heat efficient than the more complicated sinuses of ''Euoplocephalus'', but still shows that the sinus cavities of ''Panoplosaurus'' increased the recovery of lost heat and moisture by over 60%. The brain of ''Panoplosaurus'' takes up 33% of the length of the skull, similar to the nodosaurid ''
Pawpawsaurus ''Pawpawsaurus'', meaning "Pawpaw Lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Cretaceous (late Albian) of Tarrant County, Texas, discovered in May 1992. The only species yet assigned to this taxon, ''Pawpawsaurus campbelli,'' is based on a comp ...
'' where the value is 30%, a higher value than in ankylosaurids. ''Panoplosaurus'' had a similar sense of smell to both ''Pawpawsaurus'' and ''Euoplocephalus'', with the ratio between the length of the olfactory bulb and cerebral hemisphere being 44.0, 46.2 and 54.0 respectively. However, the size of the region of the brain devoted to the sense of smell is smaller in ''Panoplosaurus'' than expected for an animal of its size.


Paleoecology

The Dinosaur Park Formation deposits are a layer of sediments exposed in the badlands of Alberta, lying on top of the older Oldman Formation and underneath the younger Bearpaw Formation. ''Panoplosaurus'' was found about above boundary with the Oldman Formation, which is 76.5 million years old, within the "sandy zone" of the formation deposited by alluvial paleochannels. All the deposits of the Dinosaur Park Formation were lain during the beginning of the last significant sea level rise of the Western Interior Seaway. Sediments deposited during in the formation show that the alluvial channels were flowing to the east or southeast, towards the Bearpaw Sea of the Western Interior Seaway, creating meandering paths as the flow or water down and up during tidal cycles across the floodplain was balancing out. The climate of the environment in the Cretaceous was much different than in present day, being warmer and more temperate, with wet and dry seasons allowing for a large variety of flora and fauna. Periodic areas of standing water would occur in the low-lying plains. Where there was dense vegetation, conifers were the dominant plants, with an understory composed of ferns and tree ferns, and flowering
herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
s and shrubs. The forest floor was covered by decaying vegetative matter, small ferns, lycopods and
angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s,
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
es,
lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.fungi, with plentiful algae where there was standing water. The constant presence of water in the Dinosaur Park Formation led many forms of freshwater or marine animals to enter the otherwise predominantly terrestrial ecosystem. In the lower Dinosaur Park Formation, assemblages of crevasse sites show that
mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000  extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
were commonly dominated by the freshwater clam '' Sphaerium'', which occurred with abundant
gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
s of the genera ''
Goniobasis ''Pleurocera'' is a genus of freshwater snails with an operculum (gastropod), operculum, aquatic animal, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Pleuroceridae.Neubauer, Thomas A. (2014). Pleurocera Rafinesque, 1818. Accessed through: World Regis ...
'' and '' Lioplacodes''. This sphaeriid-dominated diversity was present during all of the duration of the formation and its over- and underlying deposits, but the
mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...
and brackish-water assemblages that can be seen in older and younger layers are absent in the range of above the Dinosaur Park Formation-Oldman Formation contact. A variety of forms of fish are present in the
fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...
beds of the Dinosaur Park Formation, including chondrichthyans, teleosts and other ray-finned fishes. The ray ''
Myledaphus ''Myledaphus'' is a genus of Late Cretaceous cartilaginous fish whose fossils are known from Canada, the Midwest of the United States, Olmos Formation of the Difunta Group of Mexico, and the Beshtyubin and Bissekty Formations of Uzbekistan. ...
'' is characteristic of the formation and similar deposits, and lived alongside the less common shark ''
Hybodus montanensis ''Meristodonoides'' is an extinct genus of cartilaginous fish. The type species is ''M. rajkovichi'', which was originally a species in the genus ''Hybodus ''Hybodus'' (from el, ύβος , 'crooked' and el, ὀδούς 'tooth') is an extinct ...
'', intermediate paddlefish and
sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretace ...
s, the long, slender fish ''
Belonostomus ''Belonostomus'' (from el, βέλος , 'dart' and el, στόμα 'mouth') is a genus of prehistoric ray-finned fish that was described by Louis Agassiz in 1844. It is a member of the order Aspidorhynchiformes, a group of fish known for their ...
'', the gar '' Lepisosteus'',
bowfin The bowfin (''Amia calva'') is a bony fish, native to North America. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, grindle, grinnel, swamp trout, and choupique. It is regarded as a relict, being the sole surviving species of the Halecomorphi ...
s, and an abundance of small teleosts including ''
Paratarpon ''Paratarpon'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived during the Campanian. See also * Prehistoric fish * List of prehistoric bony fish References

Late Cretaceous fish Elopidae Fossils of Canada {{elopiformes-stub ...
'' and '' Cretophareodus''. At least nine forms of amphibians were present in the Dinosaur Park Formation, including the salamander-like ''
Albanerpeton ''Albanerpeton'' is an extinct genus of salamander-like lissamphibian found in North America and Europe, first appearing in Cretaceous-aged strata. There are eight described members of the genus, and one undiagnosed species from the Paskapoo Form ...
'', two unnamed forms of frog, and salamanders from the genera ''
Scapherpeton ''Scapherpeton'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric amphibian. Fossils of it have been found in the Hell Creek Formation. See also * Prehistoric amphibian * List of prehistoric amphibians This list of prehistoric amphibians is an attempt to ...
'', ''
Lisserpeton ''Lisserpeton'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric salamander of the Hell Creek Formation. Its closest living relatives are the mole salamanders. Distribution Fossils of ''Lisserpeton'' have been found in * Hell Creek Formation, Williston Basi ...
'', '' Opisthotriton'', '' Habrosaurus'', and two or three unnamed forms. Turtles are commonly well-preserved in the formation, with many taxa known from many specimens. Three genera in the primitive turtle family Baenidae are known, ''
Plesiobaena ''Plesiobaena'' is an extinct genus of turtle which existed in the Belly River Formation, Canada during the late Cretaceous period (Campanian age). It was first named by Lawrence Lambe Lawrence Morris Lambe (August 27, 1863 – March 12, 1919) ...
'', '' Boremys'' and ''
Neurankylus ''Neurankylus'' is an extinct genus of turtles in the family Baenidae that lived between 112 and 61 million years ago in Canada and the United States. It was originally placed within the monotypic family Neurankylidae, but it has since been place ...
''. The low-domed
macrobaenid Macrobaenidae is an extinct family of turtles, known from the Early Cretaceous to Paleogene of Laurasia. Their relationships to other turtles and whether or not they form a monophlyletic group are controversial. They are typically interpreted a ...
'' Judithemys'' was named for a nearly complete skeleton and skull from the deposits, an unnamed but new form of snapping turtle is known, '' Adocus'' and ''
Basilemys ''Basilemys'' () is a large, terrestrial trionychoid turtle from the Upper Cretaceous. In Greek, the word "Basil" means royal or kingly and the word "Emys" means turtle. Therefore, ''Basilemys'' means King Turtle. ''Basilemys'' has been found in r ...
'' represent the diversity of primitive trionychoids, and the softshelled turtles ''
Apalone ''Apalone'' is a genus of turtles in the family Trionychidae. Species of ''Apalone'' are native to North America. Geographic range Most ''Apalone'' species are restricted to the United States, though the range of the spiny softshell, ''A. spin ...
'', '' Aspideretoides'', and a new form, are also present. Fragmentary material from the choristodere '' Cteniogenys'', and many well-preserved skulls and skeletons of its relative '' Champsosaurus'', is present among the fauna of the Dinosaur Park Formation, representing an extinct group of semi-aquatic animals with
crocodilian Crocodilia (or Crocodylia, both ) is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 95 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian stage) and are the closest living ...
features that spanned the globe for much of the Mesozoic and
Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...
. Mosasaurs and
plesiosaur The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia. Plesiosaurs first appeared ...
s are both known from the Dinosaur Park Formation, though mosasaurs are only represented by the teeth of '' Plioplatecarpus'' from the upper deposits, and apart from the relatively complete elasmosaurid ''
Fluvionectes ''Fluvionectes'' (meaning "river swimmer", from both Latin and Greek) is a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur found in the Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta, Canada. It is known from a holotype, which includes parts of the trunk area, and from a m ...
'', plesiosaurs are only known from isolated and incomplete elements. Two or three true crocodilians are known, including the named genera '' Leidyosuchus'' and ''
Albertochampsa ''Albertochampsa'' is an extinct genus of globidontan alligatoroid (possibly a stem-caiman) from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta. It was named in 1972 by Bruce Erickson, and the type species is ''A. langstoni''. It is known from a skull from th ...
''. A rich and diverse vertebrate assemblage is known from the Dinosaur Park Formation, with the lower region, excluding the
Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...
Coal Zone, being formed by terrestrial and coastal deposits. Microfossil sites are common, but a taphonomic bias is present in the formation towards the better preservation of large-bodied animals like ''Panoplosaurus'', which is 63% complete. Six small
lizards Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia althou ...
are known, representing five different families, with the teiids ''
Socognathus ''Socognathus'' is a genus of prehistoric chamopsiid polyglyphanodontian lizards containing species that lived from the Middle Campanian stage to the late Maastrichtian. Several specimens of the type species, ''Socognathus unicuspis'', have be ...
'' and '' Glyptogenys'', the xenosaurid '' Exostinus'', the helodermatid '' Labrodioctes'', the necrosaurid '' Parasaniwa'', and the varanid ''
Palaeosaniwa ''Palaeosaniwa canadensis'' is an extinct species of carnivorous lizard from the late Cretaceous of North America. The name, given by Charles Whitney Gilmore in 1928, means "ancient ''Saniwa'' from Canada". Description ''Palaeosaniwa'' was ro ...
''. No snakes are known, which, while it contrasts with the modern diversity of the group, does correspond with the rarity of the group during the Cretaceous. Two pterosaurs have been found, the azhdarchid '' Cryodrakon'' and an unnamed pterodactyloid. All three major types of
mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
present in the Cretaceous have been found in the Dinosaur Park Formation, Multituberculata, Marsupialia and
Placentalia Placental mammals (infraclass Placentalia ) are one of the three extant subdivisions of the class Mammalia, the other two being Monotremata and Marsupialia. Placentalia contains the vast majority of extant mammals, which are partly distinguished ...
. The named multituberculates include '' Cimexomys'', '' Cimolodon'', ''
Cimolomys ''Cimolomys'' is a mammal genus from the Upper Cretaceous of North America. It was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata within the suborder Cimolodonta and family Cimolomyidae. The genus ''Cimolomys'' was named by Othniel Charles Mar ...
'', ''
Meniscoessus ''Meniscoessus'' is a genus of extinct mammal from the Upper Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. It was a member of the extinct order Multituberculata, lying within the suborder Cimolodonta and family Cimolomyidae. Taxonomy The gen ...
'', and ''
Mesodma ''Mesodma'' is an extinct genus of mammal, a member of the extinct order Multituberculata within the suborder Cimolodonta, family Neoplagiaulacidae. It lived during the upper Cretaceous and Paleocene Periods of what is now North America. The e ...
''. Marsupials are represented by the taxa '' Alphadon'', '' Eodelphis'', '' Pediomys'', and '' Turgidodon'', and placentals by '' Cimolestes'', ''
Gypsonictops ''Gypsonictops'' is an extinct genus of leptictidan mammals of the monotypic family Gypsonictopidae, which was described in 1927 by George Gaylord Simpson. Species in this genus were small mammals and the first representatives of the order Lepti ...
'', and '' Paranyctoides'', though all the material represents isolated partial skull or skeletal bones, or isolated teeth. While no other dinosaurs were recovered at the same sites as any ''Panoplosaurus'' specimens, correlation and comparisons of localities throughout the Dinosaur Park Formation show it coexisted with a large variety of animals. The herbivorous fauna of the Dinosaur Park Formation can be divided into two Megafaunal Assemblage Zones, defined as the lowest directly above the Oldman Formation, and the deposits above those, where the common
ceratopsid Ceratopsidae (sometimes spelled Ceratopidae) is a family of ceratopsian dinosaurs including ''Triceratops'', ''Centrosaurus'', and ''Styracosaurus''. All known species were quadrupedal herbivores from the Upper Cretaceous. All but one species are k ...
'' Centrosaurus'' and
hadrosaurid Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which inclu ...
''
Parasaurolophus ''Parasaurolophus'' (; meaning "near crested lizard" in reference to '' Saurolophus)'' is a genus of herbivorous hadrosaurid ornithopod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America and possibly Asia during the Late Cretaceous Period, abou ...
'' are absent. ''Panoplosaurus'', which was found above the contact, is from layers just younger than those bearing ''Edmontonia'', but still corresponding to the upper portion of the older MAZ-1, and would have coexisted with the ankylosaurid ''Euoplocephalus'', ceratopsids ''Centrosaurus'' and '' Chasmosaurus belli'', and hadrosaurids ''
Corythosaurus intermedius ''Corythosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Period, about 77–75.7 million years ago. It lived in what is now North America. Its name means "helmet lizard", derived from Greek κόρυ ...
'', ''
Lambeosaurus lambei ''Lambeosaurus'' ( , meaning " Lambe's lizard") is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived about 75 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period (Campanian stage) of North America. This bipedal/quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosaur is kn ...
'', ''
Lambeosaurus clavinitialis ''Lambeosaurus'' ( , meaning " Lambe's lizard") is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived about 75 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period ( Campanian stage) of North America. This bipedal/ quadrupedal, herbivorous dinosa ...
'', and ''Parasaurolophus''. As well as herbivorous megafauna, unnamed ornithopods, the primitive
ceratopsia Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. ...
n '' Unescoceratops'' and the pachycephalosaurians '' Stegoceras validum'', '' Stegoceras sternbergi'' and '' Stegoceras brevis'' are known from the Dinosaur Park Formation, though their stratigraphic correlations are uncertain. Among theropods, the dromaeosaurids '' Dromaeosaurus'' and ''
Saurornitholestes ''Saurornitholestes'' ("lizard-bird thief") is a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Canada (Alberta) and the United States (Montana, New Mexico, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina). Two spec ...
'' are known, the former from a single specimen of uncertain provenance, and the latter from many specimens such as teeth throughout the entire formation, and troodontids from the MAZ-1 are limited to '' Stenonychosaurus''. Three genera of oviraptorosaurs are known, all of which likely coexisted in the Dinosaur Park Formation, '' Caenagnathus'', '' Chirostenotes'' and '' Citipes''. It is possible that a therizinosaur was present based on a single frontal bone, and three ornithomimosaurs are preserved in the MAZ-1, ''
Rativates ''Rativates'' is a genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaur from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta. The type species is ''Rativates evadens''. Discovery and naming In 1934, Levi Sternberg discovered the skeleton of a small ornithomimid at Q ...
'', '' Ornithomimus'', and '' Struthiomimus''. The only large theropod to coexist with ''Panoplosaurus'' was the tyrannosaurid '' Gorgosaurus'', although an unnamed species of ''
Daspletosaurus ''Daspletosaurus'' ( ; meaning "frightful lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that lived in Laramidia between about 79.5 and 74 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period. The genus ''Daspletosaurus'' contains three ...
'' was present in deposits slightly younger than known for ''Panoplosaurus''.


References


See also

* Timeline of ankylosaur research {{Taxonbar, from=Q131652 Nodosaurids Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of North America Fossil taxa described in 1919 Taxa named by Lawrence Lambe Dinosaur Park fauna Paleontology in Alberta Campanian genus first appearances Campanian genus extinctions Ornithischian genera