Silvisaurus

Silvisaurus
Temporal occurrence
	Upper Cretaceous ( Cenomanium )
	100.5 to 93.9 million years
Locations
	North America ( Kansas );
Systematics
	Pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia)
	Thyreophora
	Eurypoda
	Ankylosauria
	Nodosauridae
	Silvisaurus
Scientific name
	Silvisaurus
	Eaton , 1960
Art
	Silvisaurus condrayi Eaton, 1960 ;

Silvisaurus is a genus of pelvic dinosaur from the group of Ankylosauria . It belonged to the Nodosauridae and lived in the early Upper Cretaceous in North America.

features

Silvisaurus was a rather smaller Nodosauridae, its skull was around 33 centimeters long, the total length of the animal is estimated to be around 4 meters. Like all ankylosaurs, it was a quadruped (on all four legs) moving dinosaur whose trunk was covered by armor made of bone plates (osteoderms). These bone plates consisted of small, rounded discs, and there were also bony spines, the exact arrangement of which is not known. Presumably they were attached to the side of the shoulder region, maybe also to the trunk and tail. The tail was comparatively flat and wide, as in all Nodosauridae there was no tail lobe.

The skull of Silvisaurus shows some primeval features. The bony palate was poorly developed, and the premaxillary (the foremost part of the upper jaw) had eight or nine teeth - in the more advanced Nodosauridae this bone was toothless. The top of the head was also covered by small plates of bone. As with all ankylosauria, the teeth were small and leaf-shaped and adapted to a vegetable diet.

Discovery and naming

Silvisaurus fossil remains were found in the Dakota Formation in the US state of Kansas and first described in 1960 . The name means " forest lizard" (from Latin silva (= "forest") and Greek sauros (= "lizard")); The type and only known species is S. condrayi . The finds are dated in the early Upper Cretaceous ( Cenomanium ) to an age of 100 to 94 million years.

Systematics

Within the Ankylosauria, Silvisaurus is one of the basal representatives of the Nodosauridae and is probably closely related to Sauropelta and Pawpawsaurus .

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.

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 , p. 236, online .

[paul_10-1] Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 236, online .