Nodosaurus

 Nodosaurus (meaning "knobbed lizard") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaurfrom the Late Cretaceous, the fossils of which are found in North America.

Nodosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 100.5–97 Ma  PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Vertebrae and armor of the holotype
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Order:	†Ornithischia
Family:	†Nodosauridae
Subfamily:	†Nodosaurinae
Genus:	†Nodosaurus Marsh, 1889
Type species
†Nodosaurus textilis Marsh, 1889

DescriptionEdit

Pelvis of the holotype specimen

Scutes of the holotype specimen

This nodosaurid ankylosaur was about 4 to 6 metres (13 to 20 ft) long. It was an ornithischian dinosaur with bony dermal plates covering the top of its body, and it may have had spikes along its side as well. The dermal plates were arranged in bands along its body, with narrow bands over the ribs alternating with wider plates in between. These wider plates were covered in regularly arranged bony nodules, which give the animal its scientific name.^[1] In 2010 Paul estimated its length at 6 meters (20 ft) and its weight at 3.5 tonnes (3.85 short tons).^[2]

It had four short legs, five-toed feet, a short neck, and a long, stiff, clubless tail. The head was narrow, with a pointed snout, powerful jaws, and small teeth.^[1] It perhaps ate soft plants, as it would have been unable to chew tough, fibrous ones; or alternatively it may have processed the latter with gastroliths and its enormous intestinal apparatus.

History of discoveryEdit

Historical reconstruction of the holotype skeleton from 1921

One incomplete specimen has been discovered in the Frontier Formation of Wyoming.^[3] One of the first armored dinosaurs to be discovered in North America, Nodosaurus was named by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1889.^[4]

The cladogram below follows the most resolved topology from a 2011 analysis by paleontologists Richard S. Thompson, Jolyon C. Parish, Susannah C. R. Maidment and Paul M. Barrett.^[5] The placement of Polacanthinaefollows its original definition by Kenneth Carpenter in 2001.^[6]

Nodosauridae

Antarctopelta         Mymoorapelta       Hylaeosaurus     Anoplosaurus           Tatankacephalus     Horshamosaurus   Polacanthinae   Gargoyleosaurus     Hoplitosaurus       Gastonia       Peloroplites     Polacanthus               Struthiosaurus     Zhejiangosaurus         Hungarosaurus       Animantarx       Niobrarasaurus     Nodosaurus     Pawpawsaurus     Sauropelta     Silvisaurus     Stegopelta     Texasetes       Edmontonia     Panoplosaurus

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article  Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.