Nodosauridae is a family of

ankylosauria 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. ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s, from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

to 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'', ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

in what is now North America,

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

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,

quadruped Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion where four limbs are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four limbs is said to be a quadruped (from Latin ''quattuor' ...

al,

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

s, 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 pigments in a

countershading Countershading, or Thayer's law, is a method of camouflage in which an animal's coloration is darker on the top or upper side and lighter on the underside of the body. This pattern is found in many species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, a ...

pattern.

Classification

The

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Nodosauridae was erected by

Othniel Charles Marsh Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of Paleontology in Yale College and President of the National Academy of Sciences. He was one of the preeminent scientists in the field of paleontology. Among ...

in 1890, and anchored on the genus '' Nodosaurus''. The clade Nodosauridae was first informally defined by

Paul Sereno Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago and a National Geographic "explorer-in-residence" who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites ...

in 1998 as "all ankylosaurs closer to ''Panoplosaurus'' than to ''

Ankylosaurus ''Ankylosaurus'' is a genus of armored dinosaur. Its fossils have been found in geological formations dating to the very end of the Cretaceous Period, about 68–66 million years ago, in western North America, making it among the last of the n ...

''," a definition followed by Vickaryous,

Teresa Maryańska Teresa Maryańska (1937 – 3 October 2019) was a Polish paleontologist who specialized in Mongolian dinosaurs, particularly pachycephalosaurians and ankylosaurians. Peter Dodson (1998 p. 9) states that in 1974 Maryanska together with Hals ...

, and Weishampel in 2004. Vickaryous ''et al.'' considered two genera of nodosaurids to be of uncertain placement (''incertae sedis''): ''Struthiosaurus'' and ''Animantarx'', and considered the most primitive member of the Nodosauridae to be ''Cedarpelta''.Vickaryous, M. K., Maryanska, T., and Weishampel, D. B. (2004). Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press. Following the publication of the

PhyloCode The ''International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature'', known as the ''PhyloCode'' for short, is a formal set of rules governing phylogenetic nomenclature. Its current version is specifically designed to regulate the naming of clades, leaving the ...

, Nodosauridae needed to be formally defined following certain parameters, including that the type genus '' Nodosaurus'' was required as an internal specifier. In formally naming Nodosauridae, Madzia and colleagues followed the previously established use for the clade, defining it as the largest clade including '' Nodosaurus textilis'' but not ''

Ankylosaurus magniventris ''Ankylosaurus'' is a genus of armored dinosaur. Its fossils have been found in geological formations dating to the very end of the Cretaceous Period, about 68–66 million years ago, in western North America, making it among the last of the n ...

''. As all phylogenies referenced included both ''Panoplosaurus'' and ''Nodosaurus'' within the same group relative to ''Ankylosaurus'', the addition of another internal specifier was deemed unnecessary. The

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

phylogenetic analysis of Rivera-Sylva and colleagues was used as the primary reference for Panoplosaurini by Madzia ''et al.'', in addition to the supplemental analyses of Thompson ''et al.'' (2012), Arbour and Currie (2016), Arbour ''et al.'' (2016), and Brown ''et al.'' (2017). The highly isolated '' Antarctopelta'', from the late Cretaceous of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, was previously thought to be the most basal nodosaurid, but a 2021 study found it to belong to the

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 ...

, a separate basal lineage of ankylosaurs restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. However, the 2022 description of ''

Patagopelta ''Patagopelta'' (meaning "Patagonian shield") is an extinct genus of nodosaurine dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (upper Campanian–lower Maastrichtian) Allen Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a Monotypic taxon, single species, ''P. c ...

'', a nodosaurine from

, suggests that true nodosaurids also inhabited Gondwana, having colonized

during a biotic interchange from North America during the

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campani ...

Biogeography

The near simultaneous appearance of nodosaurids in both North America and Europe is worthy of consideration. ''

Europelta ''Europelta'' (meaning “Europe’s shield”) is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Spain that lived during the Early Cretaceous (early Albian stage, ~113.0 Ma) in what is now the lower Escucha Formation of the Teruel Province. Th ...

'' is the oldest nodosaurid from Europe, it is derived from the lower

Albian The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/ Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0 ...

Escucha Formation. The oldest western North American nodosaurid is '' Sauropelta'', from the lower

Little Sheep Mudstone Member of the

Cloverly Formation The Cloverly Formation is a geological formation of Early and Late Cretaceous age (Valanginian to Cenomanian stage) that is present in parts of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah in the western United States. It was named for a post office on th ...

, at an age of 108.5±0.2 million years. Eastern North American fossils seem older. Teeth of ''

Priconodon ''Priconodon'' (meaning "saw cone tooth") is an extinct genus of dinosaur (perhaps nodosaurid), known from its large teeth. Its remains have been found in the Aptian-Albian age Lower Cretaceous Arundel Formation of Muirkirk, Prince George's Count ...

crassus'' from the

Arundel Clay The Arundel Formation, also known as the Arundel Clay, is a clay-rich sedimentary rock formation, within the Potomac Group, found in Maryland of the United States of America. It is of Aptian age (Lower Cretaceous). This rock unit had been economi ...

of the Potomac Group of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, which dates near the Aptian–Albian boundary. The '' Propanoplosaurus'' hatchling from the base of the underlying Patuxent Formation, dating to the upper Aptian, is the oldest known nodosaurid. ImageSize = width:1250px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-199.6 till:-23.03 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:-190 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-199.6 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:triassic value:rgb(0.51,0.17,0.57) id:jurassic value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.79) id:earlyjurassic value:rgb(0,0.69,0.89) id:middlejurassic value:rgb(0.52,0.81,0.91) id:latejurassic value:rgb(0.74,0.89,0.97) id:cretaceous value:rgb(0.5,0.78,0.31) id:earlycretaceous value:rgb(0.63,0.78,0.65) id:latecretaceous value:rgb(0.74,0.82,0.37) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:NAM3 bar:NAM4 bar:NAM5 bar:NAM6 bar:NAM7 bar:NAM8 bar:NAM9 bar:NAM10 bar:NAM11 bar:NAM12 bar:NAM13 bar:NAM14 bar:NAM15 bar:NAM16 bar:NAM17 bar:NAM18 bar:NAM19 bar:NAM20 bar:NAM21 bar:NAM22 bar:NAM23 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:eratop from: -199.6 till: -145.5 color:jurassic text:

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

from: -145.5 till: -66.0 color:cretaceous text:

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 ...

from: -66.0 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text: Paleogene bar:periodtop from: -199.6 till: -175.6 color:earlyjurassic text: Early from: -175.6 till: -161.2 color:middlejurassic text: Middle from: -161.2 till: -145.5 color:latejurassic text: Late from: -145.5 till: -99.6 color:earlycretaceous text: Early from: -99.6 till: -66.0 color:latecretaceous text: Late from: -66.0 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text: Paleo. from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text: Eo. from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text: Oligo. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:triassic bar:NAM1 from:-166 till:-164 text: Sarcolestes? color:triassic bar:NAM2 from:-157 till:-153 text:

Gargoyleosaurus ''Gargoyleosaurus'' (meaning "gargoyle lizard") is one of the earliest ankylosaurs known from reasonably complete fossil remains. The holotype was discovered in 1995 at the Bone Cabin Quarry West locality, in Albany County, Wyoming in exposures ...

color:triassic bar:NAM3 from:-157 till:-145 text: Mymoorapelta? color:triassic bar:NAM4 from:-145 till:-100 text: Taohelong color:triassic bar:NAM5 from:-137 till:-134 text:

Hylaeosaurus ''Hylaeosaurus'' ( ; Greek: / "belonging to the forest" and / "lizard") is a herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived about 136 million years ago, in the late Valanginian stage of the early Cretaceous period of England. It was found ...

? color:triassic bar:NAM6 from:-131 till:-126 text:

Polacanthus ''Polacanthus'', deriving its name from the Ancient Greek polys-/πολύς- "many" and akantha/ἄκανθα "thorn" or "prickle", is an early armoured, spiked, plant-eating ankylosaurian dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period of England. In ...

color:triassic bar:NAM7 from:-131 till:-113 text:

Sauroplites ''Sauroplites'' (meaning "saurian hoplite") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Discovery and naming In 1930, the Swedish paleontologist Anders Birger Bohlin during the Swedish-Chinese expedition ...

color:triassic bar:NAM1 from:-128 till:-126 text: Gastonia color:triassic bar:NAM2 from:-128 till:-126 text: Horshamosaurus color:triassic bar:NAM3 from:-128 till:-126 text: Hoplitosaurus color:triassic bar:NAM1 from:-113 till:-94 text: Dongyangopelta color:triassic bar:NAM2 from:-105 till:-100 text: Anoplosaurus color:triassic bar:NAM3 from:-97 till:-95 text:

Acanthopholis ''Acanthopholis'' (; meaning "spiny scales") is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur in the family Nodosauridae that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period of England. A single species, ''A. horrida'', exists. History Around 1865 commercial foss ...

color:jurassic bar:NAM8 from:-118 till:-108 text: Sauropelta color:jurassic bar:NAM9 from:-118 till:-108 text: Tatankacephalus color:jurassic bar:NAM10 from:-116 till:-113 text: Propanoplosaurus color:jurassic bar:NAM11 from:-113 till:-108 text:

color:jurassic bar:NAM12 from:-113 till:-100 text: Silvisaurus color:jurassic bar:NAM13 from:-112 till:-107 text:

Borealopelta ''Borealopelta'' (meaning "Northern shield") is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. It contains a single species, ''B. markmitchelli'', named in 2017 by Caleb Brown and colleagues from a well-preserved ...

color:jurassic bar:NAM14 from:-100 till:-94 text: Zhejiangosaurus? color:jurassic bar:NAM15 from:-100 till:-94 text: Nodosaurus color:jurassic bar:NAM16 from:-99 till:-96 text: Peloroplites color:jurassic bar:NAM8 from:-86 till:-84 text:

Acantholipan ''Acantholipan'' is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid dinosaur from Mexico from the early Santonian age of the Late Cretaceous. It includes one species, ''Acantholipan gonzalezi.'' Discovery and naming In the north of Mexico, fragmentary fossil ...

color:jurassic bar:NAM9 from:-86 till:-84 text:

Niobrarasaurus ''Niobrarasaurus'' (meaning "Niobrara lizard") is an extinct genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur which lived during the Cretaceous 87 to 82 million years ago. Its fossils were found in the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Formation, in western ...

color:jurassic bar:NAM10 from:-84 till:-75 text:

Danubiosaurus ''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.

? color:jurassic bar:NAM11 from:-84 till:-75 text:

Rhadinosaurus ''Rhadinosaurus'' (meaning "slender lizard") is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur first described in 1881 by Harry Govier Seeley, based on remains uncovered in Austria sometime between 1859 and 1870 by Edward Suess and Pawlowitsch. It was a herbi ...

? color:jurassic bar:NAM12 from:-81 till:-79 text:

Invictarx ''Invictarx'' (meaning "unconquerable fortress") is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (lower Campanian, 78.5 Ma) in what is now the upper Allison Member of the Menefee Formation. Th ...

color:jurassic bar:NAM13 from:-75 till:-74 text:

Ahshislepelta ''Ahshislepelta'' (meaning "Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash shield") is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian stage, 74.5 Ma) in what is now the Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Fo ...

? color:jurassic bar:NAM14 from:-72 till:-70 text: Glyptodontopelta color:cretaceous bar:NAM17 from:-113 till:-108 text:

color:cretaceous bar:NAM18 from:-103 till:-100 text: Pawpawsaurus color:cretaceous bar:NAM19 from:-97 till:-95 text:

Stegopelta ''Stegopelta'' (meaning "roofed shield") is a genus of struthiosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur. It is based on a partial skeleton from the latest Albian- earliest Cenomanian-age Lower and Upper Cretaceous Belle Fourche Member of the Frontier Forma ...

color:cretaceous bar:NAM17 from:-86 till:-84 text: Hungarosaurus color:cretaceous bar:NAM18 from:-84 till:-66 text: Struthiosaurus color:paleogene bar:NAM20 from:-103 till:-100 text: Texasetes color:paleogene bar:NAM21 from:-99 till:-96 text:

Animantarx ''Animantarx'' ( ; meaning 'living citadel') is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Early and Late Cretaceous of western North America. Like other nodosaurs, it would have been a slow-moving quadrupedal herbivore covered in ...

color:paleogene bar:NAM20 from:-84 till:-68 text:Argentinian taxon color:paleogene bar:NAM21 from:-77 till:-72 text:

Edmontonia ''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 Ca ...

color:paleogene bar:NAM22 from:-76 till:-75 text:

Panoplosaurus ''Panoplosaurus'' is a genus of armoured dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. 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 d ...

color:paleogene bar:NAM23 from:-68 till:-66 text:

Denversaurus ''Denversaurus'' (meaning "Denver lizard") is a genus of panoplosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) of western North America. Although at one point treated as a junior synonym of ''Edmontonia'' by some t ...

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from: -145.5 till: -66.0 color:cretaceous text:

from: -66.0 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text: Paleogene

References

External links

Alberta oilsands discovery of 2011
{{Taxonbar, from=Q134193 Kimmeridgian first appearances Maastrichtian extinctions Taxa named by Othniel Charles Marsh Prehistoric dinosaur families

Description

Classification

Biogeography

See also

References

Further reading

External links