I couldn't believe it when they told me they are naming the ankylosaur after me, a once in a lifetime honor.
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It's considered the most complete Late Cretaceous ankylosaur ever found in Utah—or in the entire southwestern United States for that matter.
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Previous research has suggested that the armoured ankylosaur had "crazy straw" tunnels in its skull to help keep its brain at optimum temperatures.
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"I couldn&apost believe it when they told me they are naming the ankylosaur after me, a once-in-a-lifetime honor," he said.
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"The spikes running all the way down Zuul's tail were a fantastic surprise to me -- like nothing I've ever seen in a North American ankylosaur," Arbour said in a news release.
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Illustration: Andrey Atuchin/DMNS 2017Working in this high desert terrain, paleontologists from the Natural History Museum of Utah and the University of Utah managed to pull out a number of bones, including an immaculately preserved complete skull, bony armor (including neck rings and spiked plates), several vertebrae, a forelimb, various hindlimb bones, and nearly complete tail with the iconic ankylosaur club still attached.
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The ankylosaur would win, although Velociraptor could easily kill young ankylosaurs, which have easily penetrable armor. Outcome 1: (Winner, ankylosaur) The ankylosaur is being harassed by two Velociraptors. They try to attack it multiple times, but its armor proves too thick. The ankylosaur eventually drives them away by swinging its tail (one blow would have killed one of the Velociraptors).
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Ford, T.L. (2000). A review of ankylosaur osteoderms from New Mexico and a preliminary review of ankylosaur armor. In: Lucas, S.G., and Heckert, A.B. (eds.). Dinosaurs of New Mexico.
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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.
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Tracy Ford took this farther in 2000, assigning it to a new subfamily in Ankylosauridae based on armor characteristics, which he called Stegopeltinae. Also included was Glyptodontopelta.Ford, T.L. (2000). A review of ankylosaur osteoderms from New Mexico and a preliminary review of ankylosaur armor.
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This debate is still ongoing; at this time, Scelidosaurus is considered to be either more closely related to ankylosaurids than to stegosaurids and, by extension, a true ankylosaur,Kazlev, M. Alan (2007). "Ornithischia: Ankylosauromorpha" Palaeos. Retrieved on 2007-02-11. or basal to the ankylosaur-stegosaur split.
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Skeletal mounts of the ankylosaur Scolosaurus This timeline of ankylosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ankylosaurs, quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs who were protected by a covering bony plates and spikes and sometimes by a clubbed tail. Although formally trained scientists did not begin documenting ankylosaur fossils until the early 19th century, Native Americans had a long history of contact with these remains, which were generally interpreted through a mythological lens. The Delaware people have stories about smoking the bones of ancient monsters in a magic ritual to have wishes granted and ankylosaur fossils are among the local fossils that may have been used like this. The Native Americans of the modern southwestern United States tell stories about an armored monster named Yeitso that may have been influenced by local ankylosaur fossils.
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Other important dinosaur finds from the same locality as Opisthocoelicaudia include the troodontid Borogovia and the ankylosaur Tarchia.
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It was also the first North American ankylosaur specimen with well-preserved material from both the skull and tail.
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Silvisaurus, from the Latin silva "woodland" and Greek sauros "lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the middle Cretaceous period.
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Shamosaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur from Early Cretaceous (Aptian to Albian stage) deposits of Höövör, Mongolia.
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Size comparison of Europelta and a human. Struthiosaurines are well-known, and include one of the best-preserved species of ankylosaur, Europelta carbonensis.
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It was not until 1927 that Alfred Sherwood Romer implemented the modern use of the name Stegosauria as specifically pertaining to the plate-backed and spike- tailed dinosaurs of the Jurassic that form the ankylosaurs' nearest relatives. The next major revision to ankylosaur taxonomy would not come until Walter Coombs divided the group into the two main families paleontologists still recognize today; the nodosaurids and ankylosaurids. Since then, many new ankylosaur genera and species have been discovered from all over the world and continue to come to light. Many fossil ankylosaur trackways have also been recognized.
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They concluded that all species were nomina dubia whose syntype specimens were composites of non-diagnostic ankylosaur and ornithopod remains; including Syngonosaurus. Syngonosaurus was seen as an ankylosaur in both a 2001 publication and a 2004 publication.M. K. Vickaryous, T. Maryanska, and D. B. Weishampel. 2004. Ankylosauria. In D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, and H. Osmolska (eds.), The Dinosauria (second edition).
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Extrapolating from this, Haas suggested that ankylosaurs ate relatively soft non-abrasive vegetation. Later research on Euoplocephalus indicates that forward and sideways jaw movement was possible in these animals, the skull being able to withstand considerable forces. A 2016 study of the dental occlusion (contact between the teeth) of ankylosaur specimens found that the ability for backwards (palinal) jaw movement evolved independently in different ankylosaur lineages, including Late Cretaceous North American ankylosaurids like Ankylosaurus and Euoplocephalus. A specimen of the ankylosaur Pinacosaurus preserves large paraglossalia (triangular bones or cartilages located in the tongue) that show signs of muscular stress, and it is thought this was a common feature of ankylosaurs.
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Nodosaurids did convergently develop a rounded skull. As the massive quadrates were lacking, the skull fragment gave a false impression of being lightly built. Ankylosaur material at the time was typically referred to the Scelidosauridae but because this was the first ankylosaur braincase to be described, the connection was not obvious. The first to understand it represented an armoured dinosaur was Nopcsa who in 1902 placed it in the Acanthopholididae.
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Animantarx is universally thought of as a nodosaurid ankylosaur, although its precise relationships within that family are uncertain. The most recent cladistic analysis of ankylosaur phylogeny does not include Animantarx, although the authors recognize the genus as Nodosauridae incertae sedis because of its rounded supraorbital protrusions and a "knoblike" acromion on the scapula.Vickaryous, M.K., Maryanska, T., & Weishampel, D.B. 2004. Ankylosauria. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., & Osmólska, H. (Eds.).
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Coombs, W. P. 1995. A nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Lower Cretaceous of Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15(2):298-312. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004).
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Gobisaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of China (Nei Mongol Zizhiqu). The genus is monotypic, containing only the species Gobisaurus domoculus.
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The Rhadinosaurus hypodigm (holotype) consists of one tibia fragment, one limb fragment, two fibulae, and two dorsal vertebrae. The fibulae (PIUW 2349/34), which are clearly ankylosaurian, were originally identified as femora in the original description, but were eventually re-identified in a 2001 review of ankylosaur specimens from the Grünbach Formation.X. Pereda Suberbiola and P. M. Galton. 2001. Reappraisal of the nodosaurid ankylosaur Struthiosaurus austriacus Bunzel from the Upper Cretaceous Gosau Beds of Austria.
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It is difficult to estimate the animal's size from the fragmentary remains, but it was clearly a small dinosaur, approximately long. As an ankylosaur, it was almost certainly an herbivore.
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"Hanwulosaurus" is the informal name given to an as- yet undescribed genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was an ankylosaur around long, which is long for an ankylosaur. Its fossils were found in Inner Mongolia, China. Much of a skeleton, including a complete skull, vertebrae, ribs, a scapula, an ulna, femorae, bones from the shin, and armor, was discovered; this may be the most complete ankylosaurian skeleton yet found in Asia, according to early reports.
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Kilbourne, B. and Carpenter, K. 2005. "Redescription of Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum, a polacanthid ankylosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Albany County, Wyoming". N. Jb. Geol. Palaont. Abh. 237: 111-160 Vickaryous et al.
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The Plainview Formation is a Early Cretaceous (Albian) geologic formation of the Dakota Group in Colorado.Plainview Formation at Fossilworks.org Fossil ankylosaur tracks and tracks of Caririchnium sp. have been reported from the formation.
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In some of these Talarurus was the sister species of Nodocephalosaurus. Comparison between the skull of Euoplocephalus and other North American ankylosaur taxa. Note the presence of Nodocephalosaurus, the closest relative of Talarurus.
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The front of the snout is missing. The specimen is that of an adult individual.Parsons, W.L., and Parsons, K.M. (2009). "A new ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Lower Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of central Montana".
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Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 288 Due to their unusual body plan, the describers Taquet and Russell suggested that they would have looked superficially like an ankylosaur.
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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 Kansas, which would have been near the middle of Western Interior Sea during the Late Cretaceous. It was a nodosaurid, an ankylosaur without a clubbed tail. It was closely related to Nodosaurus. The type species, Niobrarasaurus coleii, was discovered and collected in 1930 by a geologist named Virgil Cole.
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389La Palca village at Fossilworks.orgCal Orcko tracksite at Fossilworks.org The tracksite of Cal Orcko is the best known example of the ichnofossil locations of the formation. The ichnofossil of Ligabueichnum bolivianum may be attributed to an ankylosaur.
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Dracopelta was the first ankylosaur recognized from the Late Jurassic and remains one of the most primitive known genera referred to the Ankylosauria. Though originally placed within the Nodosauridae, Vickaryous et al. (2004) considered Dracopelta Ankylosauria incertae sedis.
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The Antarctic Peninsula, including James Ross Island, was connected to South America throughout this time period, allowing interchange of fauna between both continents. However, no evidence has yet been found to support a common ankylosaur fauna between Antarctica and South America.
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P. Coombs and T. A. Deméré. 1996. A Late Cretaceous nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from marine sediments of coastal California. Journal of Paleontology 70(2):311-326 or E. longiceps,M. K. Vickaryous, T. Maryanska, and D. B. Weishampel. 2004. Ankylosauria.
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T.L. Ford. (2000). "A review of ankylosaur osteoderms from New Mexico and a preliminary review of ankylosaur armor", In: S. G. Lucas and A. B. Heckert (eds.), Dinosaurs of New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 17: 157-176 The holotype, USNM 8610, consists of three pieces of fused flat osteoderms, found in the Campanian- Maastrichtian Ojo Alamo Formation. It was concluded to be a dubious name, a nomen dubium, in a 2004 review of the Ankylosauria, but a 2008 publication by Michael Burns concurred with Ford that its armor was distinctive enough to consider it valid.
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Likewise, ankylosaur remains are among the dinosaur bones found along the Red Deer River of Alberta, Canada where the Piegan people believe that the Grandfather of the Buffalo once lived. The first scientifically documented ankylosaur remains were recovered from Early Cretaceous rocks in England and named Hylaeosaurus armatus by Gideon Mantell in 1833. However, the Ankylosauria itself would not be named until Henry Fairfield Osborn did so in 1923 nearly a hundred years later. Prior to this, the ankylosaurs had been considered members of the Stegosauria, which included all armored dinosaurs when Othniel Charles Marsh named the group in 1877.
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Hierosaurus (meaning "sacred 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 Kansas, which would have been near the middle of Western Interior Sea during the Late Cretaceous. It was a nodosaurid, an ankylosaur without a clubbed tail. Spine The only species of this genus, Hierosaurus sternbergii, was described by George Wieland on the basis of cranial and postcranial osteoderms collected by Charles Hazelius Sternberg in the Niobrara Formation of western Kansas.G. R. Wieland. 1909.
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The preserved maxillae have length of about twelve centimetres. This indicates that Maleevus was a medium-sized ankylosaur of around . The height and weight of Maleevus is unknown due to the lack of known remains. (size estimates based on the related Talarurus).
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Pereda-Suberbiola, X., and Galton, P. M., 2001. Reappraisal of the nodosaurid ankylosaur Struthiosaurus austriacus Bunzel, 1871 from the Upper Cretaceous Gosau Beds of Austria. pp. 173-210 In: Carpenter, K., (ed.) The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis, 2001, pp.
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Top view of the skull Cedarpelta is an extinct genus of herbivorous basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur, based on material recovered from the Lower Cretaceous of North America. The skull lacks extensive cranial ornamentation, a trait which has been interpreted as plesiomorphic for ankylosaurs.
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Evgeny Aleksandrovich Maleev (, ; 25 February 1915 - 12 April 1966) was a Soviet paleontologist who did most of his research on reptiles and Asian fossils, such as the naming of the ankylosaur Talarurus and theropods Tarbosaurus and Therizinosaurus along with the family Therizinosauridae.
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The non-dinosaurian vertebrates consist of Lepisosteus, an indeterminate turtle, and a crocodile. Dinosaurian fauna from the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation include Ampelosaurus, an animal classified as Dromaeosauridae indet., and an indeterminate ankylosaur. The bird Gargantuavis philoinos, and dinosaur eggs have also been recovered.
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The Calcare di Altamura (Italian for Altamura Limestone) is a Coniacian to early Campanian geologic formation in Italy.Calcare di Altamura The formation comprises limestones that are highly fractured, in places karstified and dolomitized. Fossil ankylosaur tracks have been reported from the formation.Weishampel, et al. (2004).
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Jinyunpelta ("Jinyun shield") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurine thyreophoran dinosaur from the Cretaceous Liangtoutang Formation of Jinyun County, Zhejiang, China; it has one species, the type species J. sinensis. This species is the basalmost ankylosaur known to have had a proper tail club.
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In 2017, Victoria M. Arbour and David C. Evans described a new genus of ankylosaurine that preserved extensive soft tissues along the body. This animal, named Zuul after its resemblance to the Ghostbusters monster, is also the first ankylosaur from the Judith River Formation.
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In 1983 he found a femur of a hadrosaur in Carlsbad and in 1986 thirteen cervical vertebrae of another hadrosaur. In 1987 Riney discovered teeth and fragments of the postcranium of the ankylosaur Aletopelta coombsi."Table 17.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 368.
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Size comparison Gastonia was a medium-sized ankylosaur. In 1998, Kirkland estimated its length at six metres. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul indicated a body length of five metres and a weight of 1.9 tonnes.Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p.
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A further possible distinguishing trait is the mixture of concave, flat and convex caputegulae on the skull top. From the Kirtland Formation a second ankylosaur is known from limited remains, Nodocephalosaurus. Ziapelta differs from Nodocephalosaurus in several traits. The edge on the squamosal horns is sharper.
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In 1988, the find was reported by Thomas Deméré. The discovery drew much attention because it was the first important ankylosaurian fossil known from the area. It was dubbed the "Carlsbad Ankylosaur". In 1996, the fossil was described but not named by Deméré and Walter Preston Coombs.
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This locality has also produced the ankylosaur Tianzhenosaurus, theropod material referred to cf. Szechuanosaurus campi (now regarded as a nomen dubium), and indeterminate hadrosaurid material. This species also coexisted with ostracods and charophytes, and the ankylosaurian Shanxia, considered by Weishampel et al. to be ankylosauria indet.
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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 complete skull (lacking mandibles) from the marine Paw Paw Formation (Wachita Group).
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Europelta is an extinct genus of struthiosaurine nodosaurid dinosaur known from the Early Cretaceous (early Albian stage) lower Escucha Formation of Teruel Province, northeastern Spain. It contains a single species, Europelta carbonensis. It is known from two associated partial skeletons, and represents the most complete ankylosaur known from Europe.
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Reconstructed skull, BYU For instance, some elements were wrongly referred to the genus; the lacrimal bone of the specimen CEU 184v.83 turned out to be a postorbital from the ankylosaur Gastonia. Britt et al. also suggested that the previously identified manual unguals of the specimens CEU 184v.
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Five years later, large numbers of Tetrapodosaurus tracks were discovered at the Smoky River Coal Mine near Grande Cache, Alberta. This site is considered the most important ankylosaur track site in the world.McCrea, Richard T. 2000. Vertebrate palaeoichnology of the lower cretaceous (lower Albian) gates formation of Alberta.
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Ankylosauria is usually split into two families: Nodosauridae (the nodosaurids) and Ankylosauridae (the ankylosaurids). A third family, the Polacanthidae, is sometimes used,Hayashi, S., Carpenter, K., Scheyer, T.M., Watabe, M. and Suzuki. D. (2010). "Function and evolution of ankylosaur dermal armor." Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 55(2): 213-228.
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Back vertebra with fused ribs of AMNH 5895. The broad body housed a large digestion system. In 1969 Austrian paleontologist Georg Haas concluded that despite the large size of ankylosaur skulls, the associated musculature was relatively weak. He also thought jaw movement was limited to up and down movements.
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The holotype IVPP V12560 is an articulated skeleton measuring approximately in length. The specimen is unique among all known ankylosaur fossils in the retention of the external mandibular fenestra. Antorbital fenestrae may also be present. It has relatively large teeth, including teeth in the praemaxilla ( primitive or possibly juvenile trait).
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In a 1968 paper, Romer argued it was an ankylosaur. In 1977, Richard Thulborn of the University of Queensland attempted to reclassify Scelidosaurus as an ornithopod similar to Tenontosaurus or Iguanodon. Thulborn argued Scelidosaurus was a lightly built bipedal dinosaur adapted for running. Thulborn's 1977 theories on the genus have since been rejected.
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Possible neonate-sized ankylosaur fossils have been documented in the scientific literature.Tanke, D.H. and Brett-Surman, M.K. 2001. Evidence of Hatchling and Nestling-Size Hadrosaurs (Reptilia:Ornithischia) from Dinosaur Provincial Park (Dinosaur Park Formation: Campanian), Alberta, Canada. pp. 206-218. In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life—New Research Inspired by the Paleontology of Philip J. Currie.
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The Sino-Swedish Expedition Publications 37, 113 pp Today this dinosaur is more probably considered an ankylosaur. The fossils, from the Minhe Formation dating from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian or Maastrichtian stage), were fragmentary. The type is the only known specimen. The material consisted of poorly preserved cranial and postcranial fragments plus some dermal scutes.
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Mymoorapelta ("Shield of Mygatt-Moore") is an ankylosaur from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian) Morrison Formation (Brushy Basin Member) of western Colorado, USA. The taxon is known from portions of a disarticulated skull, parts of three different skeletons and other postcranial remains. It is present in stratigraphic zones 4 and 5 of the Morrison Formation.
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Other fossils have been referred but some of these later were proven to have belonged to other types of dinosaur. A braincase e.g. (specimen CCGME 628/12457) was shown to be of a sauropod, while presumed frill material actually represented ankylosaur armour plates. Authentic material includes postorbitals with brow horn cores, teeth, a predentary and limb elements.
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Taxa that lived alongside Tanius in the formation include the ankylosaur Pinacosaurus cf. grangeri; possibly the cerapodan Micropachycephalosaurus; intermediate sauropods; intermediate coelurosaurs; and intermediate cheloniids which show similarities to Nanhsiungchelyidae. Multiple localities of dinosaur eggs have also been idenfitied. Both T. chingkankouensis and T. laiyangensis were discovered in the Jingangkou Formation, which is directly above the Jiangjunding.
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The armour of Loricosaurus has caused some controversy. When Huene first described it, he considered it to be from an ankylosaur. Later, it was discovered to not belong to ankylosaurs, but to belong to titanosaurs.Holtz, Thomas R Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete,Up-to-date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers Of All Ages, Winter 2010 Appendix.
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Akainacephalus is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Campanian age Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah. The type and only species is Akainacephalus johnsoni, 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.
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A review of ankylosaur osteoderms was published in 2000, and reviewed the armour of Struthiosaurinae. The group was represented by the single genus Struthiosaurus, known from head, cervical, dorsal, sacral, and caudal scutes. Only a few head osteoderms were identified, so it is unknown how much of the skull was armoured. Many cervical and dorsal scutes have been preserved alongside species of Struthiosaurus.
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Locality where the holotype was found In 2014, Theropoda Expeditions LLC was excavating a possible Gorgosaurus specimen near Havre, Montana. On 16 May, a skid-steer loader removing a -high overburden unexpectedly hit upon an ankylosaurian tail club. An almost complete ankylosaur skeleton proved to be present. As it had not been eroded on the surface, it was in pristine condition.
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In 1975 Wiffen discovered the first dinosaur fossils in New Zealand in the Mangahouanga Valley in Northern Hawkes Bay. Her first discovery was the tail bone of a theropod dinosaur. Her later finds included bones from a hypsilophodont, a pterosaur, an ankylosaur, mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. In 1999, Wiffen discovered the vertebra bone of a titanosaur in a tributary of the Te Hoe River.
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Saichania would then be the only ankylosaur definitely known from the Nemegt, its occurrence thus spanning the time of the Campanian–Maastrichtian transition, and early Maastrichtian (Nemegtian) period. Arbour also considered the Chinese taxa Tianzhenosaurus youngi Pang & Cheng 1998 and Shanxia tianzhenensis Barrett, You, Upchurch & Burton 1998 to be junior synonyms of Saichania.Arbour, Victoria Megan, 2014. Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs.
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The humerus is very robust. Thirty centimetres long in the holotype, it has an upper side width of 212 millimetres due to a well-developed inner corner and a strong hatchet-shaped deltopectoral crest. The ulna, twenty-one centimetres in length, also is robust but has a relatively low olecranon. The metacarpus is short, in 1977 it was the shortest of any Asian ankylosaur known.
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Sternberg's first paper appeared in 1921, supplementing Lambe's study of the Ankylosaur Panoplosaurus. Sternberg later took over the scientific description of fossil vertebrates for the Geological Survey. He published 47 papers on fossil vertebrates, mostly dinosaurs, many based on his own remarkable discoveries. In 1936 Sternberg and his son Ray Martin installed permanent metal quarry markers in 112 dinosaur quarries within Dinosaur Provincial Park.
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Texasetes (meaning "Texas resident") is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaurs from the late Lower Cretaceous of North America. This poorly known genus has been recovered from the Paw Paw Formation (late Albian) near Haslet, Tarrant County, Texas, which has also produced the nodosaurid ankylosaur Pawpawsaurus. Texasetes is estimated to have been 2.5–3 m (8–10 ft) in length. It was named by Coombs in 1995.
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The Wessex Formation possessed a wide array of fauna, including many other dinosaurs such as the carcharodontosaurian Neovenator, the compsognathid Aristosuchus; the medium size spinosauridae Baryonx; the basal neornithischian Hypsilophodon; the ornithopods Iguanodon, Mantellisaurus, and Valdosaurus; the sauropods Ornithopsis, Eucamerotus, and Iuticosaurus; and the ankylosaur Polacanthus. There were many contemporary mammal species which Eotyrannus likely fed on, including the spalacotheriid Yaverlestes and the eobaatarid Eobaatar.
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Bohlin placed Stegosaurides in the Stegosauria. However, later authors often presumed it represented a member of the Ankylosauria, in an indeterminate position.Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., Osmólska, H., & Hilton, Richard P., 2004, The Dinosauria, University of California Press, p. 567 The fossils resemble vertebrae of both groups in having strongly elevated diapophyses, but are more ankylosaur-like in that the neural arch is moderately tall.
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During the twentieth century, it has been classified at different times as an ankylosaur or stegosaur. Alfred von Zittel (1902), William Elgin Swinton (1934), and Robert Appleby et al. (1967) identified the genus as a stegosaurian,Thulborn, R.A. (1977) Relationships of the lower Jurassic dinosaur Scelidosaurus harrisonii. Journal of Paleontology. July 1977; v. 51; no. 4; p. 725-739 though this concept then encompassed all armoured forms.
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Ornithomimisaur tracks of similar age are known from north of Moab, Utah, at the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite, in the Ruby Ranch Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Early Cretaceous). This tracksite also preserves the tracks of ankylosaur, hadrosaur, sauropod and several size classes of theropod dinosaurs, along with crocodiles and birds. A similar fauna has been noted from the Trinity Group in Arkansas.
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It was described as a "dinosaur mummy", due to its preservation of soft tissues. Many osteoderms and small ossicles of the armour are present in their original position. Additionally, there are remains of keratin sheaths of the spikes and of keratin, non-bony, scales, in the form of a black film. The specimen is, as of 2017, the most complete ankylosaur find from the Judith River Formation.
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The Cadomin Formation preserves the oldest dinosaur skeletal fossils from Alberta (and anywhere west of Nova Scotia, in Canada).Nagesan, R.S. et al. 2019 The fossil material is attributable to a polocanthid ankylosaur, and comes from the basal unit of the Cadomin formation known as the Pocaterra Creek member. Unattributed turtle material was also reported from the formation, and the same locality as the dinosaur material.
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Other, as yet undescribed material included two finds of several juveniles huddled together, evidently killed by a sandstorm. Whereas ankylosaur skeletons have often been preserved laying on their back, most Pinacosaurus juveniles are found on their belly in a resting position, with the legs tucked in. Juvenile specimens under excavation in 1990, with quarry map Because of the many finds, in principle the entire juvenile skeleton is known.
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The Calcare di Bari (Italian for Bari Limestone) is a Cretaceous (Valanginian to early Turonian, spanning approximately 45 million years) geologic formation in Apulia, southeastern Italy.Calcare di Bari The formation comprises micritic limestones, in places karstified and dolomitized. Rudists and fossil ankylosaur, sauropod and theropod tracks have been reported from the thick formation that was deposited in an inner carbonate platform environment towards the top dominated by rudist reefs.
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Earlier work suggested that the James Ross Island ankylosaur was a juvenile. More recent research indicates that the different parts of the vertebrae are completely fused together, while a juvenile would be expected to have visible sutures between the neural arch and body (centrum) of the vertebrae. A preliminary histological analysis of several bones also indicates a level of remodeling that would not be seen in newly formed bone.
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Coombs, W.P., Jr. & T. Maryańska (1990), "Ankylosauria" in: D.B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, & H. Osmólka (eds), The Dinosauria. University of California Press, pp. 456-483 Some believed it might actually be a specimen of another ankylosaur, Shamosaurus. However, in 2014 Victoria Megan Arbour discovered a clear unique trait, autapomorphy: the sacral or pelvic shield shows rosettes with a large central osteoderm surrounded by a single ring of smaller scutes.
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Hypothetical P. foxii restoration, based mostly on Gastonia Polacanthus was a medium-sized ankylosaur. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 5 meters (16 ft), its weight at 2 tonnes (2.2 short tons).Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 229 Thomas Holtz gave a lower estimation of 4 meters (13 ft) and 227-454 kg (500-1.000 lbs) in 2012.
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In 2017, before the torso had been prepared, a preliminary description was published of the skull and tail. In 2017, based on the specimen the type species Zuul crurivastator was named and described by Arbour and Evans. The generic name was adopted from the demon and demi-god Zuul, the Gatekeeper of Gozer, featured in the 1984 film Ghostbusters. This was due to Zuul's head resembling that of an ankylosaur.
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A polacanthine ankylosaur (Ornithischia: Dinosauria) from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of eastern Utah. In: S.G. Lucas, J.I. Kirkland, & J.W. Estep, (eds) Lower and Middle Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 14: 271-281. Gastonia was formally named and described by James Kirkland in 1998, from the holotype specimen and other fossil material recovered beginning in 1989. The name Gastonia honors US palaeontologist and CEO of Gaston Design Inc.
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Tsagantegia (; meaning Tsagan Teg) is a genus of medium-sized ankylosaur thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. The genus is monotypic, including only the type species, T. longicranialis. The specimen consists of a very partial individual, compromising the skull and lacking postcranial remains. Since it only preserves the skull, Tsagantegia is mainly characterized by its elongated snout and the flattened facial osteoderms, greatly differing from other ankylosaurs.
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Other dinosaurs from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight include the theropods Neovenator, Aristosuchus, Thecocoelurus, Calamospondylus, and Ornithodesmus; the ornithopods Iguanodon, Hypsilophodon, and Valdosaurus; the sauropods Ornithopsis, Eucamerotus, and Chondrosteosaurus; and the ankylosaur Polacanthus. The Papo Seco Formation of Portugal where Baryonyx has possibly been identified is composed of marl, representing a lagoon environment. Other dinosaur remains from the area include fragments tentatively assigned to Mantellisaurus, a macronarian sauropod, and Megalosaurus.
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Scar sees the Albertosaurus first, and flees. The old bull Edmontosaur fights the predator until they both tumble over the cliff, locked in a deadly embrace. In the frozen north, Patch learns how to finally catch Unnuakomys by listening for them under the snow and comes across the overturned Edmontonia. He and several other Troodons attack the ankylosaur, but the Nanuqsaurus, now fully healed of its injury, arrives and pulls the herbivore away from the smaller predators.
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Rhadinosaurus (meaning "slender lizard") is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur first described in 1881 by Harry Govier Seeley, based on remains uncovered in Austria.H.G. Seeley, 1881, "The reptile fauna of the Gosau Formation preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 37(148): 620-707 It was a herbivore that lived around 84.9 to 70.6 million years ago (during the Late Cretaceous period). The type species is R. alcimus.
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The Rugocaudia cooneyi and Tatankacephalus cooneyorum are two new dinosaur species that were found southwest of Harlowton. The Rugocaudia cooneyi is a new sauropod dinosaur that was described and named by the paleontologist Cary Woodruff in 2012. The genus name Rugocaudia means “wrinkle tail” and the species name honors the landowner J. P. Cooney. The Tatankacephalus is a new ankylosaur dinosaur species found in 1997 by Bill and Kris Parsons, research associates of the Buffalo Museum of Science.
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Pelvis of the holotype specimen This nodosaurid ankylosaur was about long. It was an ornithischian dinosaur with bony dermal plates covering the top of its body, and it may have had spikes along its side as well. The dermal plates were arranged in bands along its body, with narrow bands over the ribs alternating with wider plates in between. These wider plates were covered in regularly arranged bony nodules, which give the animal its scientific name.
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The specific name is derived from Latin curtus, "short", and Greek νῶτον, noton, "back". A second species, Anoplosaurus major, "the larger one", was named by Seeley in 1879 for a neck vertebra and three partial caudal vertebrae he removed from the material previously referred to Acanthopholis stereocercus, from the same formation as the type species. This species now appears to be chimeric, the neck vertebra coming from an ankylosaur, the caudals from an indeterminate iguanodont.Norman, D.B. 2004.
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For example, cranial material is known from Stegosaurus, Paranthodon, Kentrosaurus, and Tuojiangosaurus, and the tooth morphology differs in all of them. Maxilla and premaxilla in multiple views The premaxilla of Paranthodon is incomplete, but the anterior process is sinuous and curves ventrally. This is similar to in Miragaia, Huayangosaurus, the ankylosaur Silvisaurus, and Heterodontosaurus, but unlike in Chungkingosaurus, Stegosaurus, Edmontonia and Lesothosaurus. The premaxilla also lacks any teeth, like in every stegosaur except Huayangosaurus where the premaxilla is preserved.
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In September 1998, the joint Usbek-Russian-British-American- Project excavated the braincase of an ankylosaur. In 2002, Alexandr Averianov, based on this find, named a second species of the genus Amtosaurus: Amtosaurus archibaldi. The specific name honours James David Archibald, leading the URBAC (Uzbekistan, Russia, Britain, America, & Canada) project that performed the excavation. The holotype, ZIN PH 1/6, and only known specimen was collected from the Bissekty Formation, dating from the late Turonian-Coniacian, of Dzharakuduk.
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Loricosaurus (meaning "armour lizard") is a genus of sauropod represented by a single species. It is a titanosaurian that lived near the end of the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 71 million years ago in the early Maastrichtian. Found in the province of Neuquen, Argentina in the Allen Formation. Due to the presence of armour, at first it was thought that it was an ankylosaur, but today it is considered to be the armour of a titanosaur.
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Its hindlimbs are relatively long for an ankylosaur, with a right femur length of 555 millimetres with the holotype. In 2011 Barrett e.a. indicated two possible unique traits, autapomorphies: the floor of the neural canal is deeply cut by a groove with a V-shaped transverse profile; the caudal spikes have triangular bases in side view and narrow points. Tibia, vertebra and scutes The subsequent describers have always dedicated much effort at restoring the armour configuration.
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Another ankylosaur, a nodosaur referred to as Edmontonia sp., is also found in the same formations, but according to Carpenter, the range of the two genera does not seem to have overlapped. Their remains have so far not been found in the same localities, and the nodosaur appears to have inhabited the lowlands. The narrower muzzle of the nodosaur suggests it had a more selective diet than Ankylosaurus, further indicating ecological separation, whether their range overlapped or not.
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Size compared to a 1.8 m tall human. Talarurus was a medium sized ankylosaur, Thomas Holtz and Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at , Paul gave a weight of , however, Holtz estimated it around . Genus List for Holtz 2012 Weight Information Like other ankylosaurids, it had a wide rostrum (beak), a formidable osteoderms running across its body, forming an extensive armor, and the famous tail club. Its limbs were robust and short, supporting a wide and rounded belly.
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Fans dressed as Ghostbusters occasionally burst into the main reading room of the New York Public Library. The 2016 crowdfunded documentary Ghostheads follows various fans of the series and details the impact it has had on their lives, interspersed with interviews from crew including Aykroyd, Reitman, and Weaver. Memorabilia from the film is popular, with a screen-used Proton Pack selling for $169,000 at a 2012 auction. In 2017, a newly discovered ankylosaur fossil was named Zuul crurivastator after Gozer's minion.
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Holotype skull shown from above and below In June 2008, farmer Li Meiyun on a construction site at Huzhen in Jinyun County discovered the remains of an ankylosaur. Between 2008 and 2014 excavations took place by a joint team of the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, the Jinyun Museum and the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. In 2013, five ankylosaurian skeletons were uncovered. A new species was to be based on two of these, while preparation of the other finds continued.
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The pubis is fully fused to the ischium forming an ischiopubis, but creating a unique slot-shaped foramen between the post-pubic process and the position of the pubic peduncle. The ratio of lengths of tibia to femur (0.9) is greater than in any other ankylosaur for which these proportions are known. Europelta also possesses autapomorphic osteoderms located anteriorly on the outer corners of the pelvic shield, that are flanged with the keel laterally compressed, and with a flat plate-like base.
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About writing a children's book on the topic of evolution Loxton states "People forget to see kids as thinking beings, as people who have existential questions that they want answered. They just need the best information available," he said. "Keep it simple, but make it true." Loxton at podium at TAM 2013 - Preserving Skeptic History In 2011, he wrote Ankylosaur Attack (Tales of Prehistoric Life), which was nominated for a Forest of Reading Silver Birch Express award from the Ontario Library Association.
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The new information led to the conclusion that the species could be named in a separate genus of ankylosaur. In 2015, Lucy G. Leahey, Ralph E. Molnar, Kenneth Carpenter, Lawrence M. Witmer en Steven W. Salisbury named and described the type species Kunbarrasaurus ieversi. The genus name is derived from Kunbarra - the word for 'shield' in the Mayi language of the local Wunumara people. The specific name ieversi honours Mr Ian Ivers, the property manager who originally found the fossil.
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The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs is a two-part BBC documentary, presented by Bill Oddie, in which a group of scientists test out the strength of dinosaur weaponry using biomechanics. The first episode determines the winner of a battle between Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, and the second compares the strength of an ankylosaur and Velociraptor. The episodes were broadcast on BBC 1 in August and September 2005. In the U.S., The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs was known as Dinosaur Face-Off.
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Its consists of five vertebral centra, a neural arch, one dorsal and two sacral ribs, the right ischium, the complete right hindlimb, the right pes, an incomplete left pes, and various other fragments. AMNH 5266 was discovered in 1912 at Red Deer River and was collected by Barnum Brown with assistance from Peter Kaisen, George Olsen, and Charles M Sternberg in the sediments from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation.Coombs, W.P., Jr. (1986, June). A Juvenile ankylosaur referable to the genus euoplocephalus (reptilia, ornithischia).
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Therizinosaurs were the most abundant theropods in the Bayan Shireh Formation in terms of biodiversity; in addition to Segnosaurus, members of the group included Erlikosaurus, Enigmosaurus, and possibly a fourth type. Other theropods included the tyrannosaur Alectrosaurus, the ornithomimid Garudimimus, and the dromaeosaur Achillobator. Other dinosaurs included the ankylosaur Talarurus, the hadrosaur Gobihadros, the sauropod Erketu, and the ceratopsian Graciliceratops. Dinosaur eggs, some of which were identified as Dendroolithidae, as well as footprints of dinosaurs and crocodyliforms, have also been found.
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This research indicates that at least two, possibly three dinosaur assemblages are contained within the formation. The oldest of these assemblages is from the Yellow Cat, Poison Strip and basal Ruby Ranch members. The small, Ornitholestes-like theropod Nedcolbertia and the brachiosaurid sauropod Cedarosaurus may be considered as relics, with their closest relatives in the Morrison Formation. In contrast, the polacanthid ankylosaur Gastonia and a yet unnamed iguanodontid are similar to related forms from the Lower Cretaceous of southern England.
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Asides from Brancasaurus, other constituents of the Bückeberg Group are benthic invertebrates, including neomiodontid bivalves; hybodont sharks, including Hybodus, Egertonodus, Lonchidion, and Lissodus; the actinopterygian fish Caturus, Lepidotes, Coelodus, Sphaerodus, Ionoscopus, and Callopterus, which Brancasaurus would have preyed on in surface waters; the turtle Desmemys; crocodilians, including Goniopholis, Pholidosaurus, and Theriosuchus; the theropod Altispinax; the marginocephalian Stenopelix; and an ankylosaur referred to Hylaeosaurus. Other indeterminate remains have been assigned to pterosaurs; the crocodilian clades Hylaeochampsidae and Eusuchia; and the dinosaurian clades Dryosauridae, Ankylopollexia, Troodontidae, and Macronaria.
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During the Late Campanian and Maastrichtian California was home to evolutionarily advanced mosasaurs including Plesiotylosaurus and Plotosaurus. On land, a variety of dinosaurs inhabited the state. Among them were the ankylosaur Aletopelta, and many duck- billed dinosaurs, most notably Augustynolophus,.Albert Prieto-Márquez, Jonathan R. Wagner, Phil R. Bell and Luis M. Chiappe, 2014, "The late- surviving ‘duck-billed’ dinosaur Augustynolophus from the upper Maastrichtian of western North America and crest evolution in Saurolophini", Geological Magazine Into the Cenozoic era, California was still very geologically active.
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Restoration of the skull Europelta is a medium-sized nodosaurid, approximately four and a half meters in length.Matthew Piper, "Utah paleos: Euro dinosaur find hints at continental history", The Salt Lake Tribune, 2 December 2013 Europelta is distinguished from other ankylosaurs by the following diagnostic traits: Its quadrate bone is shorter and mediolaterally wider than in any other ankylosaur. The rear margin of the skull is concave in dorsal view. In lateral view, the sacrum of Europelta is arched dorsally, describing an arc of about 55°.
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In 1977, a Soviet-Mongolian expedition discovered the skeleton of an unknown ankylosaurian at the Chamrin-Us site in Dornogovi Province. This was the first discovery of an ankylosaur in the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia.T.A. Tumanova, 1983, "Pervyy ankilozavr iz nizhnego mela Mongolii", In: L.P. Tatarinov, R. Barsbold, E. Vorobyeva, B. Luvsandanzan, B.A. Trofimov, Yu. A. Reshetov, & M.A. Shishkin (eds.), Iskopayemyye reptilii mongolii. Trudy Sovmestnaya Sovetsko-Mongol'skaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditsiya 24: 110-118 In 1983, Tatyana Tumanova named and described the type species Shamosaurus scutatus.
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The holotype and only known specimen (USNM 337987) consists of portions of the scapulocoracoid and pelvis, elements from the fore and hind limbs, vertebrae, osteoderms, a skull fragment, and one tooth. These remains had been labelled as those of a sauropod in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, but were many years later recognized as ankylosaurian by M.K. Brett-Surman. They were subsequently studied by ankylosaur expert Walter Preston Coombs, Jr, who named them in 1995 as the type species Texasetes pleurohalio. Vickaryous et al.
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Size estimates of Tarchia have been largely based on Dyoplosaurus giganteus, the holotype of which is one of the largest ankylosaurian individuals known. This would make Tarchia the longest known Asian ankylosaur, with an estimated body length of .Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2010 Appendix. Confusingly, the skull size often mentioned, with a length of and width of , was again based on specimen PIN 3142/250, a much smaller individual.
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Pinacosaurus (meaning "Plank lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian, roughly 80 million to 75 million years ago), mainly in Mongolia and China. The first remains of the genus were found in 1923, and the type species Pinacosaurus grangeri was named in 1933. Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus named in 1999, is a second possibly valid species differing from the type species in details of the skull armour. Of Pinacosaurus grangeri many skeletons have been found, more than of any other ankylosaur.
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The remains were collected in 2011 from Locality 7 of the Zhumapu Formation, as a part of a project to find dinosaurs for the Shanxi Museum of Geology, initiated by the Department of Land and Resources of Shanxi Province. SXMG V 00001 was found in the vicinity of Zuoyun County, from the lower part of Zhumapu Formation, dating to the early Late Cretaceous based on biostratigraphic correlations, overlying the late Early Cretaceous Zuoyun Formation. Other than SXMG V 00001, ankylosaur and ceratopsian remains were found from the newly discovered localities.
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Two dinosaur-bearing formations are present on the island, both from the Upper Cretaceous: the Santa Marta Formation and the Snow Hill Island Formation. These are two of only three known formations to have dinosaur fossils in Antarctica. The first dinosaur discovered in Antarctica was Antarctopelta oliveroi, a medium-sized ankylosaur found on James Ross Island by Argentinian geologists Eduardo Olivero and Roberto Scasso in 1986. The dinosaur was recovered from the Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous Santa Marta Formation, about south of Santa Marta Cove on the north part of the island.
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The BBPI’s dig sites are largely within the Lance and Morrison formations, though they have also spanned through the Cloverly, Fort Union, and Willwood formations. Nearly all of the BBPI’s localities lie within Carbon County, MT. Among the BBPI’s excavation sites is the Mother’s Day Quarry which the team has been excavating since the summer of 2017. The BBPI has excavated a wide variety of dinosaur genera including Diplodocus, Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus, Triceratops, Leptoceratops, Suuwassea, Edmontosaurus, Ankylosaur, and many others. Their finds have included many crocodilian, turtle, and plant fossils as well.
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Life restoration of Deinosuchus by Andrey Atuchin Andrey Atuchin (born September 10, 1980) is a Russian paleoartist, illustrator and biologist who focuses on artistic reconstructions of extinct animals. He is known for his clean, detailed style reminiscent of classic National Geographic illustrations. Atuchin has collaborated with paleontologists all over the world in illustrating new species for papers and press releases, such as the 2014 feathered dinosaur Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus, as well as more recent discoveries including the pliosaur Luskhan itilensis, described in 2017, and the 2018 ankylosaur dinosaur Akainacephalus johnsoni.
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Antarctopelta ( ; meaning 'Antarctic shield') was a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur with one known species, A. oliveroi, which lived in Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous Period. It was a medium-sized ankylosaur, reaching no more than 4 meters (13 ft) in length, and showed characteristics of two different families, making more precise classification difficult. The single known fossil specimen was discovered on James Ross Island in 1986, constituting the first dinosaur remains ever discovered on Antarctica, although it is the second dinosaur from the continent to be formally named.
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Outcome 2: (Winner, Velociraptor) The mother ankylosaur is grazing and her young browse very close to her to avoid danger, but one of them wanders off to an unsafe distance. Two Velociraptors lay a trap around the baby; one of them bursts out of cover to stampede the baby, and the baby escapes the Velociraptor, only to be driven into the clutches of the other one. The two Velociraptors attack the baby, slashing with their claws. The baby tries desperately to defend itself with its tail, but it is inexperienced and is quickly overwhelmed.
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Skull of specimen AMNH 5405, Scolosaurus sp. Scolosaurus shared its paleoenvironment with other dinosaurs, such as the duck-billed hadrosaurs Hypacrosaurus, Acristavus, Gryposaurus, Brachylophosaurus, Glishades, Prosaurolophus and Maiasaura, and the ankylosaur Edmontonia. Volcanic eruptions from the west periodically blanketed the region with ash, resulting in large-scale mortality, while simultaneously enriching the soil for future plant growth. Fluctuating sea levels also resulted in a variety of other environments at different times and places within the Judith River Group, including offshore and nearshore marine habitats, coastal wetlands, deltas and lagoons, in addition to the inland floodplains.
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In contrast, closure of the opening on the side of the skull behind the orbit, the lateral temporal fenestra, is an advanced, derived (apomorphic) character only known in ankylosaurid ankylosaurians. Two skulls are known, and the skull length for Cedarpelta is estimated to have been roughly . One of the Cedarpelta skulls was found disarticulated, a first for an ankylosaur skull, allowing paleontologists a unique opportunity to examine the individual bones instead of being limited to an ossified unit. The skull is relatively elongated and does not show a strongly appending beak.
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Shoulder blade and coracoid of specimen AMNH 5895 Reconstructions of ankylosaur forelimb musculature made by Coombs in 1978 suggest that the forelimbs bore the majority of the animal's weight, and were adapted for high force delivery on the front feet, possibly for food gathering. In addition, Coombs suggested that ankylosaurs may have been capable diggers, though the hoof-like structure of the manus would have limited fossorial activity. Ankylosaurs were likely to have been slow-moving and sluggish animals, though they may have been capable of quick movements when necessary.
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The Toolebuc Formation includes several remains of ornithocheiromorphs which are now referred to the genera Aussiedraco and Mythunga. The formation also includes several herbivorous dinosaurs such as the ornithopod Muttaburrasaurus and the ankylosaur Kunbarrasaurus. Fossil remains of marine animals were also uncovered within the fossil site, and some specimens of which belong to the ichthyosaur Platypterygius, the pliosaurid Kronosaurus and the elasmosaurid Eromangasaurus. Turtle remains from turtles that were proposed to be prey for pterosaurs were also found within the Toolebuc Formation, this included the genera Bouliachelys, Cratochelone and Notochelone.
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Sinuses and nasal chambers in the snout may have been for heat and water balance or may have played a role in vocalization. The tail club is thought to have been used in defense against predators or in intraspecific combat. Ankylosaurus has been found in the Hell Creek, Lance, Scollard, Frenchman, and Ferris formations, but appears to have been rare in its environment. Although it lived alongside a nodosaurid ankylosaur, their ranges and ecological niches do not appear to have overlapped, and Ankylosaurus may have inhabited upland areas.
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Specimens have been found in the North-Pyrenean site of Bellevue, which is located at the base of the Marnes de la Maurine member of the Marnes Rouges Inférieures Formation. Marine biostratagraphic testing of the formation places its age somewhere between Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian. Other contemporary dinosaurs in the Bellevue layer include the titanosaur sauropod Ampelosaurus, the rhabdodontid Rhabdodon and indeterminate ankylosaur and Dromaeosauridae elements. Other material ascribed to Lirainosaurus have been found in the Fox-Amphoux–Métisson locality, where unfortunately no magnetostratigraphic dating has been performed.
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A large diversity of flora can be seen, preserved in the form of pollen and spores. Gymnosperms are present, along with pteridophytes, unidentifiable wood fragments, other intermediate pollen, and miscellaneous organic plant material. The intermediate sauropod Ornithopsis leedsi is known from the same section of the formation as Cetiosauriscus, along with the stegosaurids Lexovisaurus durobrivensis and Loricatosaurus priscus (which are possibly synonyms), the basal ankylosaur Sarcolestes leedsi, the ornithopod Callovosaurus leedsi, and a second unnamed ornithopod taxon. Dinosaur eggs that have not yet been assigned to a taxon are also known from the Lower Oxford Clay.
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The vertebrate fauna is dominated by the small basal ornithopod Oryctodromeus, which dominates the vertebrate assemblage and is known from several partial skeletons. An ankylosaur, a Tenontosaurus-like iguanodontid, a hadrosaurid, dromaeosaurs, a tyrannosauroid, a possible neovenatorid allosauroid, a giant oviraptorosaur (represented by eggshell of the oogenus Macroelongatoolithus carleylei), indeterminate small theropods, possible neoceratopsians, large and small crocodilians, turtles, a variety of small mammals, and semionotid fish are known from very fragmentary remains.Krumenacker, L. J., Scofield, G., Simon, J., Varricchio, D., and Wilson, G. P., 2014a. Outcrop envy: Paleontology and taphonomy of the Wayan Formation, the Cenomanian foredeep deposits of Idaho.
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The ankylosaur was not formally named until 2006. James Ross Island from NASA's DC-8 aircraft during an AirSAR 2004 mission over the Antarctic Peninsula In December 2003, U.S. paleontologist Judd Case from Saint Mary's College of California and U.S. geologist James Martin from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology discovered the bones of a theropod dinosaur on the island. Nicknamed "Naze" after the northerly Naze Peninsula on which it was found, the Late Cretaceous remains include an upper jaw and teeth, and most of the lower legs and feet. Little information is available, but the shape of the leg and feet indicate it was a runner.
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It consists of two upper jawbones, left and right maxillae. Maleev erroneously assumed these represented the lower jaws. Referred was specimen PIN 554/2-1, the rear of the skull of another individual. In 1977, Teresa Maryańska noted a similarity with another Mongolian ankylosaur, Talarurus, in that both taxa have separate openings for the ninth to twelfth cerebral nerve; she therefore renamed the species as Talarurus disparoserratus.T. Maryańska, 1977, "Ankylosauridae (Dinosauria) from Mongolia", Palaeontologia Polonica 37: 85-151 Having determined that Syrmosaurus is a junior synonym of Pinacosaurus, Soviet palaeontologist Tatyana Tumanova named the material as a new genus Maleevus in honor of Maleev in 1987.
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The depositional environment of the quarry mudstone was an interchannel seasonal accumulation of clay nested in a topographic low between channel levees called a floodpond. Dinosaurs became entrapped in the cohesive and adhesive mud as they drank and hunted near the floodpond. The preserved fauna consists of almost all dinosaurs with the majority being carnivorous dinosaurs including Allosaurus (material from at least 44 individuals make up almost 67% of all remains), Torvosaurus (1), Ceratosaurus (1), Stokesosaurus (2), Marshosaurus (2), and possibly an Ornitholestes. Herbivorous dinosaurs include Camarasaurus (5), Haplocanthosaurus (1), Barosaurus (1), Amphicoelias (1), Mongolosaurus (1), an unidentified sauropod, Camptosaurus (5), Stegosaurus (4), a possible ankylosaur (1), and an unidentified ornithopod.
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1999, during the times of the Bayan Shireh Formation, large rivers drained the estern part of the Gobi Desert. Additional to this, fossil fruits remains have been recovered from the Bor Guvé and Khara Khutul localities (Upper and Lower Bayan Shireh, respectively), suggesting the presence of Angiosperm plants. Tsagantegia shared its habitat with numerous animals from other localities of the formation, compromising dinosaur and non- dinosaur genera; such as the theropods Achillobator, Alectrosaurus, Erlikosaurus, Garudimimus and Segnosaurus; the fellow ankylosaur Talarurus; Marginocephalians: Amtocephale and Graciliceratops; the hadrosauroid Gobihadros, and the large sauropod Erketu. The turtle Lindholmemys, the crocodylomorph Paralligator, unnamed azhdarchids and the shark Hybodus.
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In 2019, Alifanov and Saveliev redescribed the braincase noting that Bissektipelta had a well-developed olfaction, poor hearing and eyesight, good taste sensitivity, omnivorous diet and the unusual ability for filter-feeding. Also, the brain structure of Bissektipelta is rather primitive compared with other ankylosaur species. In 2020, Ivan Kuzmin and colleagues described and examined the braincase specimens of Bissektipelta in extensive detail. They performed a 3D reconstruction of the endocast of the brain cavity using CT scans and they revealed that a considerable part of the brain of Bissektipelta was occupied by olfactory bulbs, confirming that Bissektipelta had an extremely developed sense of smell.
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The vegetation of the Wessex Formation was savannah- or chaparral-like, and included Caytoniales, cycads, ginkgos, conifers, and angiosperms. Other pterosaurs from the Wessex Formation include Caulkicephalus, "Ornithocheirus nobilis" (which is considered a dubious species), an undetermined ctenochasmatine, an azhdarchoid, and one or two other undetermined istiodactylids. This diversity is comparable to that seen in other parts of the world during the Early Cretaceous, and the lack of toothless pterosaurs may be due to preservation bias. Dinosaurs from the Wessex Formation include the theropods Ornithodesmus, Neovenator, Aristosuchus, Thecocoelurus, and Calamospondylus; the ornithopods Iguanodon, Hypsilophodon, and Valdosaurus; the sauropods Pelorosaurus and Chondrosteosaurus; and the ankylosaur Polacanthus.
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In addition to specimens recovered in the field, CCDP researchers also reanalyzed fossil material that had gone ignored following earlier expeditions. This includes a partially- complete ankylosaur skull discovered in 1959 or 1960 by a multinational expedition made up of Chinese and Soviet researchers but which was placed into storage and never properly described. The skull was rediscovered while searching for fossils to feature in the Dinosaur Project's touring show, and in 2001 was made the holotype for a new genus of dinosaur: Gobisaurus. A survey conducted of the Djadochta Formation during the CCDP dated the formation to the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous.
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The Kyzylkum is between the Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya Rivers The Kyzylkum Desert has exposed rock formations that have yielded a number of fossils. Of particular interest is the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, from the early Late Cretaceous, which has produced several species of early birds: Incolornis martini, Explorornis walkeri, Kizylkumavis cretacea, Kuszholia mengi, Lenesornis kaskarovi, Sazavis prisca, Zhyraornis kaskarovi and Z. logunovi are recognized as valid species. Tyrannosaurid, therizinosaurid, ornithomimosaur, oviraptorosaurian, troodontid, ankylosaur, hadrosaur, and ceratopsian dinosaurs are also known from this rock unit. Other fossils from the Cretaceous rocks of the Kyzylkum include tree trunks, pelecypods, beetles, sharks, rays, bony fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs, and a varied fauna of small early mammals.
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Other marine vertebrates included the small mosasaur Taniwhasaurus antarcticus, previously known as Lakumasaurus antarcticus. The close relation of T. antarcticus to other species of Taniwhasaurus found in New Zealand and Patagonia provides evidence for a Gondwanan endemism. Antarctopelta oliveroi, an ankylosaur, was discovered in 1986 on the northern part of James Ross Island about 2 kilometers south of Santa Marta Cove in beds that were part of the Santa Marta Formation.Olivero E. B., Gasparini Z., Rinaldi C. A. and Scasso R. (1991) First record of dinosaurs in Antarctica (Upper Cretaceous, James Ross Island): paleogeographical implications, in Thomson M. R. A., Crame J. A. and Thomson J. W. (eds), Geological Evolution of Antarctica.
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They were the ankylosaur Priconodon crassus, the sauropods Pleurocoelus altus and Pleurocoelus nanus, and the theropods Allosaurus medius and Coelurus gracilis. Although these remains are now regarded as Early Cretaceous, at the time Marsh thought them to be Late Jurassic. In 1894, Arthur Bibbins was hired by the Woman's College of Baltimore (now known as Goucher College) to teach biology, geology, and curate their museum. Bibbins began collecting fossils from the Arundel Clay that year and demonstrated significant skill in finding the trunks of fossil cycads. During the summer of 1894, Bibbins learned that more dinosaur bones had been discovered locally both in the same iron mine Marsh had prospected and new localities.
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Fracturing of the spines might have been a critical threat, as the bases of the spines roofed the spinal cord. The protection of the sheath would have been further enhanced if it would have extended past its bony core. Schwarz and colleagues reconstructed Amargasaurus with horny sheaths that did not reach far beyond their bony core; the same is true for most modern reptiles. In some modern even-toed ungulates, however, the horny sheath can be double the length of the horn core, and the exquisitely preserved ankylosaur Borealopelta was found with horny sheaths that extended the length of its spines by 25%, demonstrating that substantial horny extensions may occur in dinosaurs as well.
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W.P. Coombs, Jr. and T.A. Deméré, 1996, "A Late Cretaceous nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from marine sediments of coastal California", Journal of Paleontology 70(2): 311-326 In 2001, the type species Aletopelta coombsi was named by Tracy Lee Ford and James Kirkland. Etymologically, the generic name is composed of the Greek terms ἀλήτης, aletes, and πέλτη, pelte, meaning respectively "wanderer" and "small shield". This genus name was suggested by Ben Creisler because the fossil location, at the time the dinosaur died, being located on the tectonic plate containing the Peninsular Ranges Terrane, was somewhere opposite the middle of Mexico. This plate had thus been wandering northward since, carrying the specimen with it.
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The skulls, though of large and thus not juvenile individuals, do not show a distinctive pattern of fused caputegulae, head tiles. This inspired Carpenter to propose an alternative hypothesis of ankylosaur skull osteoderm formation. Formerly, it had been assumed that such armour plates were either formed by direct skin ossification into distinct scutes which later fused to the skull (the more popular theory), or by a reaction of the skull bones to the pattern of overlying scales. The lack of a clear pattern in Cedarpelta suggested to Carpenter that the ossification took place in an intermediate layer between the scales and the skull roof itself, which he surmised to have been the periosteum.
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Glyptodon (from Greek for "grooved or carved tooth": γλυπτός "sculptured" and ὀδοντ-, ὀδούς "tooth") was a genus of large, heavily armored mammals of the subfamily Glyptodontinae (glyptodonts or glyptodontines) – relatives of armadillos – that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. It was roughly the same size and weight as a Volkswagen Beetle, though flatter in shape. With its rounded, bony shell and squat limbs, it superficially resembled a turtle, and the much earlier dinosaurian ankylosaur – providing an example of the convergent evolution of unrelated lineages into similar forms. In 2016 an analysis of Doedicurus mtDNA found it was, in fact, nested within the modern armadillos as the sister group of a clade consisting of Chlamyphorinae and Tolypeutinae.
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In spite of its familiarity, it is known from far fewer remains than its closest relatives. In 2017 the Canadian paleontologists Victoria M. Arbour and Jordan Mallon redescribed the genus in light of newer ankylosaur discoveries, including elements of the holotype that had not been previously mentioned in the literature (such as parts of the skull and the cervical half-rings). They concluded that though Ankylosaurus is iconic and the best-known member of its group, it was bizarre in comparison to related ankylosaurs, and therefore not representative of the group. Many traditional popular depictions show Ankylosaurus in a squatting posture and with a huge tail club being dragged over the ground.
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Complete fossil Throughout the Cloverly Formation, Tenontosaurus is by far the most common vertebrate, five times more abundant than the next most common, the ankylosaur Sauropelta. In the arid Little Sheep Mudstone Member, Tenontosaurus is the only herbivorous dinosaur, and it shared its environment with the common predator Deinonychus as well as an indeterminate species of allosauroid theropod and goniopholid crocodile. After the major climate shift at the beginning of the Himes Member in the mid-Albian age, several more dinosaurs entered the region, including the less common ornithopod Zephyrosaurus, the oviraptorosaur Microvenator, and an indeterminate species of titanosauriform sauropod and ornithomimid. The ecological community in the tropical stage also included the small mammal Gobiconodon, turtles such as Glyptops, and species of lungfish.
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James I. Kirkland, 2014, "The Nature of the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) Unconformity and the Early Cretaceous of Eastern Utah" In: Jim Kirkland, John Foster, ReBecca Hunt-Foster, Gregory A. Liggett, and Kelli Trujillo (eds), Mid-Mesozoic: the Age of Dinosaurs in Transition, April 30 – May 5, 2014 Fruita, Colorado & Green River, Utah p. 62-63 A second species, G. lorriemcwhinneyae, was described from the Ruby Ranch Member in 2016 based on a large bonebed, probably formed when a group died of drought or drowning. All together, more complete material exists for Gastonia than for any other basal ankylosaur. A wealth of disarticulated material from a bonebed presents problems as it can be hard to tell how many spikes a particular Gastonia actually had.
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The age Titanoceratops lived in is called the Kirtlandian land-vertebrate age, and it is characterized by the appearance of Pentaceratops sternbergii. A moderately diverse fauna is known from the Kirtland and Fruitland formations. Among the dinosaurs known from the Fruitland and Kirtland formations are the theropods Bistahieversor sealeyi (previously Daspletosaurus and Albertosaurus sp.), "Saurornitholestes" robustus, Paronychodon lacustris, and an indeterminate ornithomimid (previously Ornithomimus antiquus); the hadrosaurids Anasazisaurus horneri and Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus; the pachycephalosaur Stegoceras novomexicanum (previously S. validum); the ankylosaur Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis; and the ceratopsians Pentaceratops sternbergii and an unidentified centrosaurine. Non-dinosaurian fauna include the fishes Myledaphus bypartitus, and Melvius chauliodous; the turtles Denazinemys ornata, Denazinemys nodosa, Boremys grandis, Neurankylus baeuri, Adocus bossi, Adocus kirtlandicus, Basilemys nobilis, Asperideretes ovatus, "Plastomenus" robustus, and Bothremydidae n. gen.
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"The Basal Nodosaurid Ankylosaur Europelta carbonensis n. gen., n. sp. From the Lower Cretaceous (Lower Albian) Escucha Formation of Northeastern Spain". PLoS ONE 8 (12): e80405. Outdated illustration drawn in 1915 by Nopsca A number of invalid taxa have been shown to be junior synonyms of Struthiosaurus austriacus, most of them created when Harry Govier Seeley in 1881 revised the Austrian material.H.G. Seeley, 1881, "The reptile fauna of the Gosau Formation preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 37(148): 620-707 They include: Danubiosaurus anceps Bunzel, 1871; Crataeomus pawlowitschii Seeley, 1881; Crataeomus lepidophorus Seeley 1881; Pleuropeltis suessii Seeley, 1881; Rhadinosaurus alcimus Seeley 1881, Hoplosaurus ischyrus Seeley 1881 and Leipsanosaurus noricus Nopcsa, 1918.
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Restoration of Dineobellator in its ecosystem Dineobellator is part of the Ojo Alamo Formation fauna in southern Laramidia, at time a lush floodplain dominated by wetlands and riparian gymnosperm forests. It lived among alongside large dinosaurs like ceratopsians (Ojoceratops and Torosaurus), hadrosaurs (Edmontosaurus and Kritosaurus), two types of ankylosaur (including nodosaurid Glyptodontopelta), and the titanosaur Alamosaurus; smaller herbivorous and omnivorous dinosaurs in the ecosystem as of yet not known from any remains likely included thescelosaurine ornithopods like Thescelosaurus and pachycephalosaurs like Pachycephalosaurus. The top predators of the formation's ecosystem were the azhdarchid pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus and Tyrannosaurus. The presence of a dromaeosaur suggests that the dromaeosaurs were active predators that had discrete ecological niches even in the presence of large tyrannosaurs.
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This was accompanied two days later, on January 15, 2016 by the release of the complete concept art for the life stages of Triceratops by RJ Palmer, including a so- called "super adult" representing an extremely old and worn individual. Exactly one month later, on February 15, 2016, the official Pachycephalosaurus concept art and fully textured model were revealed to the public simultaneously via social media. A fortnight later, on March 3, 2016 a new and updated model for Ankylosaurus was teased via social media, which palaeontologist and ankylosaur expert Victoria Megan Arbour played a key role in helping to design. Due to her input, modeler Jake Baardse has said it represents one of the most scientifically rigorous and up-to-date restorations of Ankylosaurus in existence.
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In 2000, Robert Gabbard, member of a team headed by Philip John Currie, found an ankylosaur skull in the Gobi Desert near Hermiin Tsav at the Baruungoyot. In 2014, Victoria Megan Arbour named and described the find as the species Zaraapelta nomadis, but at first it remained an invalid nomen ex dissertatione.Arbour, Victoria Megan, 2014, Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs Ph.D thesis, University of Alberta Later that year, however, it was validly named as the type species Zaraapelta nomadis by Arbour, Currie and, posthumously, the female Mongolian paleontologist Demchig Badamgarav. The generic name is derived from Mongolian zaraa, "hedgehog", in reference to the prickly appearance of ankylosaurs, and the Greek πέλτη, peltè, "small shield", a common component of ankylosaurian names in view of their body armour.
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North American herbivorous dinosaurs from this time period include the titanosaur sauropod Alamosaurus, the ceratopsians Bravoceratops, Regaliceratops, Triceratops, Leptoceratops, Torosaurus, Nedoceratops, Tatankaceratops (the latter two possible species of Triceratops), and Ojoceratops, the pachycephalosaurs Pachycephalosaurus, Stygimoloch, Dracorex, and Sphaerotholus, the hadrosaurs Augustynolophus, Saurolophus and Edmontosaurus, the ornithopod Thescelosaurus the ankylosaur Ankylosaurus and the nodosaurs Denversaurus, Glyptodontopelta and Edmontonia. Predatory dinosaurs from this time period included the tyrannosaurids Tyrannosaurus, Nanotyrannus (which may just be a juvenile of the former) and Dryptosaurus, the ornithomimids Ornithomimus, Dromiceiomimus, Struthiomimus, the oviraptorids Anzu, Leptorhynchos and Ojoraptorsaurus, the troodontids Pectinodon, Paronychodon and Troodon, the coelurosaur Richardoestesia and the dromaeosaurs Acheroraptor and Dakotaraptor. The only dinosaur fossil from Central America currently is a femur of an ornithopod.,LUCAS, S. G., 2014: Vertebrate paleontology in Central America: 30 years of progress.
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Example of dinosaurs from the Cedar Mountain Formation include the polacanthid ankylosaur Gastonia from the Yellow Cat Member (upper left), Utahraptor from the Yellow Cat Member (upper right), a large theropod represented by a tooth from the Ruby Ranch Member (lower left), and Tenontosaurus from the base of the Mussentuchit (lower right). The Cedar Mountain Formation is one of the last major dinosaur-bearing formations to be studied in the United States. Although sporadic bone fragments were known prior to 1990, serious research did not begin until that year. Since then, several organizations have conducted field work collecting dinosaurs, chiefly the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the College of Eastern Utah, the Utah Geological Survey, Brigham Young University, and Dinosaur National Monument staff.
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Because of the poor state of preservation of the Cetiosauriscus leedsi fossil, Charig sent a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to instead make C. stewarti the type species. Cetiosauriscus stewarti became the oldest confirmed diplodocid until a phylogenetic analysis published in 2003 instead found the species to belong to Mamenchisauridae, and followed by studies in 2005 and 2015 that found it outside Neosauropoda, while not a mamenchisaurid proper. Cetiosauriscus was found in the marine deposits of the Oxford Clay Formation alongside many different invertebrate groups, marine ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and crocodylians, a single pterosaur, and various dinosaurs: the ankylosaur Sarcolestes, the stegosaurs Lexovisaurus and Loricatosaurus, the ornithopod Callovosaurus, as well as some unnamed taxa. The theropods Eustreptospondylus and Metriacanthosaurus are known from the formation, although probably not from the same level as Cetiosauriscus.
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Skeletal reconstruction Europelta was first described and named by James Ian Kirkland, Luis Alcalá, Mark A. Loewen, Eduardo Espílez, Luis Mampel and Jelle P. Wiersma in 2013 and the type species is Europelta carbonensis. The generic name combines a contraction for Europe, as it is the most complete ankylosaur from the continent, and πέλτα (pelta) Ancient Greek for "shield", a common suffix for ankylosaurian genus names in reference to their armored bodies. The specific name means "from the coal", from the Latin carbo, in honor of the access provided by the Sociedad Anónima Minera Catalano-Aragonesa (SAMCA Group) to the fossil locality where Europelta was found, in the open-pit Santa María coal mine. Europelta is known from two associated partial skeletons, reposited at Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis/Museo Aragonés de Paleontología (FCPTD/MAP).
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Pelvis of the holotype specimen In 1914, Barnum Brown and Peter Kaisen, working for the American Museum of Natural History, in Alberta at the Sand Creek near the Red Deer River, eight miles southeast of Steveville, excavated an ankylosaur skeleton, specimen AMNH 5337. In 1971, it was referred to Euoplocephalus tutus by Walter Preston Coombs. In 2001 however, Paul Penkalski concluded that this skeleton was nearly identical to another exemplar, AMNH 5403, and that both likely represented a separate taxon.Penkalski, P., 2001, "Variation in specimens referred to Euoplocephalus tutus", pp 261-298 in: Carpenter, K. (ed.): The Armored Dinosaurs Bloomington (Indiana University Press) In 2013, Victoria Megan Arbour en Philip Currie continued referring it to Euoplocephalus as AMNH 5337 differed from Scolosaurus and Dyoplosaurus in the pelvic region. In 2018, Penkalski published a study containing a cladistic analyses of such forms.
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Later, also the juvenile specimen MPC-D 100/1305 was referred and extensively described in 2011, seeming for the first time to provide complete information on the postcranial skeleton.Carpenter, K., Hayashi, S., Kobayashi, Y., Maryańska, T., Barsbold, R., Sato, K., and Obata, I., 2011, "Saichania chulsanensis (Ornithischia, Ankylosauridae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia", Palaeontographica, Abteilung A, 294(1-3): 1-61 However, in 2014 Victoria Megan Arbour concluded that the describers had been misled by the skeleton having been completed with a skull cast of GI SPS 100/151, and that the remainder of the fossil belonged to some other ankylosaur, possibly Pinacosaurus. On the other hand, Arbour added to the number of possible Saichania specimens by referring PIN 3142/250, a skull previously seen as a Tarchia exemplar. This would imply that Saichania, formerly thought to occur solely in the Barun Goyot Formation at Khulsan, is also known from the Nemegt Formation at Khermeen Tsav.
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The American paleontologist Kenneth Carpenter accepted the teeth as belonging to A. magniventris in 2004, and that all the specimens belonged to the same species, noting that the teeth of other ankylosaurs are highly variable. Replica of the 1964 World's Fair Ankylosaurus (note spikes and dragging tail), Royal Alberta Museum Most of the known Ankylosaurus specimens were not scientifically described at length, though several paleontologists planned to do so until Carpenter redescribed the genus in 2004. Carpenter noted that Ankylosaurus has become the archetypal member of its group, and the best-known ankylosaur in popular culture, perhaps due to a life-sized reconstruction of the animal being featured at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. That sculpture, as well as the American artist Rudolph Zallinger's 1947 mural The Age of Reptiles and other later popular depictions, showed Ankylosaurus with a tail club, following the first discovery of this feature in 1910.
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It is part of the collection of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science after which the genus was named. Bakker referred a second fossil to the species, specimen AMNH 3076, a skull found by Brown and American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Roland T. Bird at the Tornillo Creek in Brewster County, Texas, in a layer of the poorly dated Upper Cretaceous Aguja Formation, possibly from the Maastrichtian also. Scientists at the Black Hills Institute found a nodosaurid skeleton in Niobrara County, Wyoming, nick-named "Tank", which has been identified as Denversaurus. The specimen contains the lower jaws, parts of the torso and about a hundred osteoderms. It is part of the collection of the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center under inventory number BHI 127327.Carpenter K., DiCroce T., Kinneer B., Simon R., 2013, "Pelvis of Gargoyleosaurus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) and the Origin and Evolution of the Ankylosaur Pelvis", PLoS ONE 8(11): e79887. The validity of Denversaurus was disputed in a 1990 paper on ankylosaurian systematics by Kenneth Carpenter, who noted that Bakker's diagnosis of Denversaurus was based primarily on Bakker's artistic restoration of the holotype in an uncrushed state. Since DMNH 468 was found crushed, Carpenter assigned Denversaurus to a Edmontonia sp.
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