Nodosauridae
| Nodosauridae | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Live reconstruction of Edmontonia |
||||||||||||
| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Middle Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous ( Callovian to Maastrichtian ) | ||||||||||||
| 166.1 to 66 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nodosauridae | ||||||||||||
| Marsh , 1890 |
The Nodosauridae ("knot lizards") are one of the two subtaxa (subgroups) into which the dinosaur group of the Ankylosauria is divided.
features
The Nodosauridae, like all Ankylosauria, have a broad, massive trunk supported by four short, strong limbs, with the hind legs being longer than the front legs. Like all Ankylosauria they were quadruped , but the limbs were usually a bit slimmer than those of the Ankylosauridae , the second subgroup. The neck, torso, and top of the tail were covered with armor made of bone plates.
The skull of the Nodosauridae was - compared to that of the Ankylosauridae - narrower and more elongated, and the mouth was also more pointed. The two bony outgrowths behind the eye socket and on the cheek were small and round - in the Ankylosauridae they were larger and more pointed. As with all ankylosauria, the teeth were small and leaf-shaped and adapted to a plant-based diet. The top of the skull and sometimes even the eyelids were also provided with bony armor.
Many Nodosauridae had conspicuous spines in the shoulder region , sometimes on the flanks. There are also differences in the construction of the shoulder blade , which in the Nodosauridae had a conspicuous, bump-like outgrowth ( acromion ). Another distinguishing feature is that the Nodosauridae, unlike many Ankylosauridae, did not have a bony tail lobe.
Paleobiology
The pointed mouth suggests that the Nodosauridae were more selective in their choice of food and preferred certain plant forms. The bony armor was used to defend them against predators, and in the event of a threat they may have pressed down on the ground to secure their unprotected belly. The spines presumably served less for defense than for communication with conspecifics, possibly in the form of display or in direct confrontations.
How long the Nodosauridae existed and which continents they inhabited is questionable due to the uncertain allocation of numerous genera. The earliest known representatives may have lived in the Jura , in the Cretaceous the group reached its greatest variety of forms and species. Finds of the Nodosauridae are mainly known from North America and less often from Europe (and probably also from Asia). It is conceivable that the Nodosauridae were already extinct shortly before the mass extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Systematics
The systematics of the ankylosauria is controversial in many areas. This is also due to the fact that many finds are poorly preserved and a clear diagnosis is often hardly possible. Also under discussion is the membership of the Polacanthidae or Polacanthinae , which are sometimes assigned to the Ankylosauridae and sometimes to the Nodosauridae. The system described here largely follows M. Vickaryous et al. (2004), for comparison - where there are deviations - the system of K. Carpenter or the assignment by the person who first described it is shown in brackets after the name. (See also Internal Systematics of Ankylosauria .)
- Nodosauridae
- The following genera are identified by Vickaryous et al. Listed as Ankylosauria incertae sedis , in many classifications, however, assigned to the Nodosauridae:
literature
- Matthew K. Vickaryous, Teresa Maryańska , David B. Weishampel : Ankylosauria. In: David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria . 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 363-392.
- Kenneth Carpenter : Phylogenetic analysis of the Ankylosauria. In Kenneth Carpenter (Ed.): The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington IN 2001, ISBN 0-253-33964-2 , pp. 455-483.
Individual evidence
- ^ Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , pp. 235-239, online .
- ↑ Caleb M. Brown, Donald M. Henderson, Jakob Vinther, Ian Fletcher, Ainara Sistiaga, Jorsua Herrera, Roger E. Summons: An Exceptionally Preserved Three-Dimensional Armored Dinosaur Reveals Insights into Coloration and Cretaceous Predator-Prey Dynamics . Current Biology. 3rd August 2017.
- ↑ James I. Kirkland , Luis Alcalá, Mark A. Loewen, Eduardo Espílez, Luis Mampel, Jelle P. Wiersma: The Basal Nodosaurid Ankylosaur Europelta carbonensis n. Gen., N. Sp. from the Lower Cretaceous (Lower Albian) Escucha Formation of Northeastern Spain. In: PLoS ONE . Vol. 8, No. 12, 2013, e80405, doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0080405 .
- ↑ Michael E. Burns: Taxonomic utility of ankylosaur (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) osteoderms: Glyptodontopelta mimus Ford, 2000: a test case. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 28, No. 4, 2008, ISSN 0272-4634 , pp. 1102-1109, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634-28.4.1102 .
- ↑ Kenneth Carpenter, Jeff Bartlett, John Bird, Reese Barrick: Ankylosaurs from the Price River Quarries, Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), east-central Utah. In: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol. 28, No. 4, 2008, pp. 1089-1101, doi : 10.1671 / 0272-4634-28.4.1089 .
- ^ Dougal Dixon : The World Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Creatures. Lorenz, London 2007, ISBN 978-0-7548-1730-7 , p. 197.
