Nodosaurus

Skeletal reconstruction of Nodosaurus ( 1921)

• USA

• Nodosaurus textilis

Nodosaurus is a genus of bird Beck dinosaur from the group of Ankylosauria. He lived during the Late Cretaceous and was the first Ankylar discovered in North America.

Features

So far, only parts of the basin, single bone plates and isolated postcranial bones of the skeleton were found by Nodosaurus. It must have been a medium-sized Ankylar, which reached an estimated length of 4 to 6 meters. Like all members of this group was his body covered with bony plates ( osteoderms ). This armor was next to large plates also made ​​of small, bony knobs. However, the exact configuration is not known, as well as whether Nodosaurus other Ankylosauria also contributed bony spines. This dinosaur probably like all Ankylosauria moved quadruped ( on all fours ), the hull was stocky and the limbs short and strong. The skull of Nodosaurus is not known, probably he was like all Ankylar herbivores.

Discovery and designation

Fossil records of Nodosaurus were discovered by Othniel Charles Marsh in the course of known as Bone Wars confrontation with Edward Drinker Cope in the Frontier Formation in Wyoming and in 1889 first described. The name (translated " node lizard" ) alludes to the bony bump. Nodosaurus was also the first Ankylar discovered in North America.

The finds are dated to the late Cretaceous (Upper Albian ) at an age of about 107 to 100 million years.

System

Nodosaurus is named after the Nodosauridae, one of the two subgroups of Ankylosauria and is counted in most classifications in this group. M. Vickaryous et al. However, (2004) hold the findings for an accurate classification for sparse and lead him as " incertae sedis Ankylosauria. "