Nodosaurus
| Nodosaurus | ||||||||||||
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Skeleton reconstruction of Nodosaurus (1921) |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Lower Cretaceous (Upper Albium ) | ||||||||||||
| 107.5 to 100.5 million years | ||||||||||||
| Locations | ||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nodosaurus | ||||||||||||
| Marsh , 1889 | ||||||||||||
| Art | ||||||||||||
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Nodosaurus is a genus of pelvic dinosaur from the group of Ankylosauria . He lived in the late Lower Cretaceous and was the first ankylosaur to be discovered in North America.
features
Until 2011, only parts of the pelvis , individual bone plates and isolated bones of the postcranial skeleton of the Nodosaurus had been found. On this basis, it was assumed that they were medium-sized ankylosaurs, which reached an estimated length of 4 to 6 meters. Like all representatives of this group, his body was covered with bone plates (osteoderms). In addition to large plates, this armor also consisted of small, bony cusps. Like all Ankylosauria, this dinosaur may have moved quadruped (on all fours), the trunk was stocky and the limbs short and strong. Like all ankylosaurs, it was probably herbivorous.
Discovery and naming
Fossil finds of Nodosaurus were discovered by Othniel Charles Marsh in the course of the confrontation with Edward Drinker Cope known as the Bone Wars in the Frontier Formation in the US state of Wyoming and first described in 1889. The name (translated "knot lizard") alludes to the bony cusps. Nodosaurus was also the first ankylosaur to be discovered in North America. The finds are dated to the late Lower Cretaceous (Upper Albian ) to an age of approx. 107 to 100 million years.
Systematics
Nodosaurus is the namesake of the Nodosauridae , one of the two subgroups of the Ankylosauria and is counted in this group in most classifications. Vickaryous, M. et al. (2004), however, consider the findings to be too sparse for an exact classification and list it as "Ankylosauria incertae sedis ."
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.
- David E. Fastovsky , David B. Weishampel: The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-521-81172-4 .
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 .
