The Tyreophoran Thread- Stegosaurs and ankylosaurs

Adam Khor · 02-07-2012 5:44am #1

Stegosaurs were seemingly not extinct in Spain during the early Cretaceous as suggested by fossil tracks:

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.5252/g2012n2a4

Galvasean · 02-07-2012 1:17pm

Deltapodus brodricki? better not be named after this guy...

?size=400x400&site=rsoc_en&quality=100

Rubecula · 02-07-2012 1:46pm

The mention of Deltapodus brodericki (brodricki ... either is acceptable apparently) made me dig this out for your delight:

PS it only mentions Deltapodus b. really, but is interesting none the less.

http://www.sorbygeology.group.shef.ac.uk/dino.html

Adam Khor · 03-09-2012 11:48pm

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03115518.2012.702531

They're from the lower Cretaceous of La Amarga, Argentina, meaning we can finally imagine what other animals lived alongside lonely Amargasaurus

Adam Khor · 18-02-2013 9:17pm

Oohkotokia, new ankylosaur

It is very similar to Ankylosaurus, really. Oh, and it seems that old classic dino Scolosaurus is valid once again.

http://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app58/app20120125_acc.pdf

This is Euoplocephalus, but still...

Galvasean · 19-02-2013 11:06pm

Good ol' Scolosaurus. My early 80s textbooks are valid again!

Adam Khor · 03-12-2013 10:43pm

Europelta, new ankylosaur from Spain

http://m.sltrib.com/sltrib/mobile3/57209899-219/europe-utah-coal-kirkland.html.csp

Galvasean · 09-12-2013 7:26pm

Such a flat head

Adam Khor · 15-11-2014 7:59pm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/dinosaurs/11231863/Worlds-most-complete-stegosaurus-unveiled-by-Natural-History-Museum.html

Adam Khor · 04-12-2014 9:37am

More about "Sophie"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2859296/Meet-Sophie-complete-stegosaurus-skeleton-found.html

Rubecula · 05-12-2014 2:10am

The Natural History Museum is a great place to visit if you have not yet been there. I can recommend it if you are ever in London.

Manach · 05-12-2014 3:48am

Beware the souvenir shop though, can never stop at merely one memento.

Adam Khor · 25-05-2016 8:45pm

Stegosaurus bit about as hard as a sheep. But that's ok since the jaws weren t its business end :B

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3600543/The-dinosaur-bite-like-SHEEP-Enormous-five-ton-Stegosaurus-surprisingly-weak-jaw.html

latest?cb=20121003014145

Adam Khor · 31-05-2016 12:36am

Pawpawsaurus' sense of smell

http://phys.org/news/2016-05-early-armored-dino-texas-lacked.html

Adam Khor · 26-09-2016 3:20am

Semiaquatic mini-ankylosaur: Is this the first carnivorous ornitischian?

http://www.eartharchives.org/articles/armored-dinosaur-was-a-fish-eating-turtle-mimic/

Should mention that this study has been controversial and there's people out there saying that the fish was actually not in the ankylosaur's gut, but rather near its shoulders. Still, I don t find it impossible to believe.

Adam Khor · 15-05-2017 11:49pm

This is the best nodosaur fossil ever found!

Actually one of the best dinosaur fossils ever found, period, has been found in Alberta, Canada. This nodosaur (probably a Sauropelta) was found in marine deposits, and preserves so much skin and intact armor that paleontologists are having trouble to even see the bones beneath. The spikes even preserve their petrified queratine sheaths.There were also traces of pigments which suggest the animal was reddish, with light-colored spikes. Part of the fossil was lost but the entire animal would've been around 5.5 meters long.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/06/dinosaur-nodosaur-fossil-discovery/

EDIT: Despite its many similarities to Sauropelta, this specimen has been named Borealopelta.

Adam Khor · 15-05-2017 11:50pm

Actually one of the best dinosaur fossils ever found, period, has been found in Alberta, Canada. This nodosaur (probably a Sauropelta) was found in marine deposits, and preserves so much skin and intact armor that paleontologists are having trouble to even see the bones beneath. The spikes even preserve their petrified queratine sheaths.There were also traces of pigments which suggest the animal was reddish, with light-colored spikes. Part of the fossil was lost but the entire animal would've been around 5.5 meters long.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/06/nodosaur-3d-interactive-dinosaur-fossil/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20170515ngm-nodosaurinteractive&utm_campaign=Content&sf78985672=1
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/05/nodosaur-fossil-discovery-science-photography/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_fb20170514photo-nodosaurgallery&utm_campaign=Content&sf78781629=1

Adam Khor · 01-06-2017 9:22pm

"Zuul", a new ankylosaurid, or just Euoplocephalus?

I suspect the latter.
https://phys.org/news/2017-05-pristine-ankylosaur-fossil-montana.html

Manach · 01-06-2017 11:38pm

A dinosaur named after a Ghostbuster creature - very cool.

Adam Khor · 16-07-2017 7:29pm

Apparently, the two species are not found together- the smaller S. mjosi may have inhabited wet, cool woodland whereas the classic S. stenops we all know and love would've favored drier habitat (maybe like rhinos!):
https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/July-2017/Montana-Treasure
i-fdc2e07b792f784321921f82c1d0d1de-Stegosaurus-vs-Hesperosaurus-Carpenter-2010-Dec-2010.jpg

i-fdc2e07b792f784321921f82c1d0d1de-Stegosaurus-vs-Hesperosaurus-Carpenter-2010-Dec-2010.jpg

Fathom · 26-07-2017 6:51pm

Interesting associations. Size and climate relationship comparisons. Smaller wetter. Larger arid. Size follows environment.

Adam Khor · 26-07-2017 7:50pm

It's sort of like African bush elephants and African forest elephants if you think about it. Also, S. mjosi seems to have smaller, rounder plates, which makes sense considering it would've lived in forests, where the efficacy of visual exhibition would've been more limited (and overheating would've been less of a problem?).

Rubecula · 01-08-2017 12:43am

makes a lot of sense if you look at modern species. Canines do differing things in differing habitats as a good example. (see grey fox, red fox, arctic fox, fennec and bat eared fox.

Adam Khor · 01-08-2017 3:57am

Exactly. May as well mention that there's another supposed genus of coetaneous stegosaurid now described, "Alcovasaurus", which may or may not be a species of Stegosaurus (in fact, it was originally known as S. longispinus). It is known by very incomplete remains but apparently has an unusually short tail compared to S. stenops, as well as extremely large defensive spikes.

Fathom · 01-08-2017 7:49pm

Has it been established that all 3 were alive at the same time?

Adam Khor · 02-08-2017 3:18am

Now that you mention it... a quick search seems to indicate Stegosaurus mjosi lived a little bit earlier than Stegosaurus stenops. Seems I was too hasty... and now I'm wondering if S. stenops may have been the direct descendant of S. mjosi.

Fathom · 02-08-2017 9:26pm

Some variations of Stegosauridae? 0916fd1f153e001afbfcd8279aa655a2--jurassic-park-fossils.jpg

Rubecula · 02-08-2017 11:08pm

Fathom wrote: »

Some variations of Stegosauridae?

more than I actually realised

Adam Khor · 03-08-2017 12:10am

The picture could be misleading tho, as many of them are known by measly fragments only and so the diversity of body shapes may actually be much greater than seen here. Dacentrurus and "Miragaia" may very well be the same thing, and "Chungkingosaurus" and "Chialingosaurus" are probably the same as Tuojiangosaurus.

In truth, only Stegosaurus, Kentrosaurus and Tuojiangosaurus seem to be known from decent remains.

Adam Khor · 03-08-2017 6:51pm

This spectacular fossil has been formally named- as Boreopelta. It still looks like a Sauropelta to me; same basic appearance, same region, same time. It may be just a second species of Sauropelta. The fossil shows it had countershading camouflage which today would be unusual in a large herbivorous mammal, but then the Mesozoic was dominated by huge, visually-oriented predators:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/cp-dha072717.php

Rubecula · 04-08-2017 3:25am

some samples may be the same species but at different times of the year or of the individuals lives too.

Imagine about 100 million years in the future some types of deer fossils have antlers some do not and some have smaler antlers.

some may be hinds, some may bestags at different seasons and some may be immature. But all are the same species
and some deer are not..... how could future palaeontologists tell this from partial fossil records?

The Tyreophoran Thread- Stegosaurs and ankylosaurs

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