Emausaurus

• Germany (Mecklenburg- Vorpommern)

• Emausaurus Ernsti

Emausaurus is an ancient genus of dinosaur bird Beck, who lived in the Lower Jurassic and whose remains were found in the German state of Mecklenburg- Vorpommern.

Features

The length of Emausaurus is estimated to be around 1 to 2 meters, but it is difficult to specify, since apart from the skull only scattered bones were found. The skull was small, leaf -shaped teeth that were similar to those of Stegosauria and were adapted to a plant food. His body was covered with bony scales, there were both small cone-shaped and larger, thorn -like scales found, but their arrangement is unknown. Presumably Emausaurus moved like the related Scelidosaurus on all fours ( quadruped ) on.

Discovery and designation

Fossils of Emausaurus in 1963 in a clay pit near Pomerania in Mecklenburg- Vorpommern discovered by the Geology undergraduate Werner Ernst and first described in 1990 by Hartmut Haubold (Hall ). The name derives from the acronym of the Ernst- Moritz- Arndt- University ( " EMAU "); Type species is Emausaurus Ernie. The finds are in the Lower Jurassic ( Toarcian ), an age of about 180 million years dated. The not yet full-grown specimen was deposited in the sea, where the carcass was probably transported over a longer distance by currents.

System

Emausaurus is a primitive ( basal ) Representatives of the bird Beck dinosaur group of Thyreophora, which include among others the Stegosauria and Ankylosauria. Phylogenetic analyzes place him at the base of the Thyreophora and thus outside the stego and Ankylosauria; for other opinions is with him already at an early representative of the Stegosauria.