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Nodosauridae

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nodosaurids
Temporal range: Upper JurassicUpper Cretaceous, 155–66 mya
Gargoyleosaurus skeleton cast
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Clade: Thyreophora
Suborder: Ankylosauria
Clade: Euankylosauria
Family: Nodosauridae
Marsh, 1890
Subgroups
Edmontonia in Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

The Nodosauridae is a family of ankylosaur dinosaurs, from Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous strata of what are now North America, Asia, Antarctica and Europe. They are the family of ankylosaurs which do not have club-shaped tails. They often have spikes protecting their head and shoulders.

All nodosaurs, like other ankylosaurs, are medium-sized to large, heavily built quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs, with small denticulate teeth and rows of osteoderms (a type of armour) on the dorsolateral (top and sides) surfaces of the body.

Classification

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Taxonomy

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The following taxonomy follows Thompson et al., 2011 unless otherwise noted.[1]

Phylogeny

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The clade Nodosauridae may be defined as "all ankylosaurs closer to Panoplosaurus than to Ankylosaurus. Vickaryous et al. considered the most primitive member of the Nodosauridae to be Cedarpelta.[3] A cladogram from a 2011 analysis is shown by Richard S. Thompson and colleagues.[1]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Richard S. Thompson; et al. (2011). "Phylogeny of the ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 10 (2): 301–312. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.569091. S2CID 86002282.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Burns, Michael E. (2008). "Taxonomic utility of ankylosaur (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) osteoderms: Glyptodontopelta mimus Ford, 2000: a test case". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 28 (4): 1102–1109. doi:10.1671/0272-4634-28.4.1102. S2CID 140672072.
  3. Vickaryous M.K; Maryanska T. and Weishampel D.B. 2004. Ankylosauria. In The Dinosauria. 2nd ed, Weishampel D.B; Dodson P. and Osmólska H. (eds) University of California Press.