ANKYLOSAURIA
CLASSIFICATION
Animalia: Vertebrata: Tetrapoda: Sauropsida: Archosauromorpha:
Ornithodira: Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Thyreophora
CLADOGRAM:
--Ankylosauria sensu Carpenter, 1997 "Ankylosaurus' taxon" == {Ankylosaurus > Stegosaurus}
| INCERTAE SEDIS:
| indeterminate material (teeth, ribs) -- Aptian -- Australia
| unnamed form -- Texas
| indeterminate material -- Albian -- Utah
| unnamed form (IM K20/350: skull roof portion) -- Maastrichtian -- India
| Cryptosaurus
| Heishansaurus
| Peishansaurus
| Priconodon
| Priodontognathus
| ?Rhadinosaurus
| ?Stegosaurides
| Tianzhenosaurus
| ?Tyreophorus
|--Minmi
`--Ankylosauroidea == {Ankylosaurus + Nodosaurus}
| INCERTAE SEDIS:
| Stegopeltini
| | INCERTAE SEDIS:
| | unnamed San Diego form
| |--Glyptodontopelta
| `--Stegopelta
|--Nodosauridae == {Nodosaurus > Ankylosaurus}
| | INCERTAE SEDIS:
| | indeterminate material -- early Maastrichtian -- Argentina
| | unnamed giant form -- early Early Cretaceous -- Utah
| | unnamed form -- Albian to early Cenomanian -- Africa
| | unnamed form -- Campanian -- Montana
| | unnamed form -- Antarctica
| | ?Dracopelta
| | ?Liaoningosaurus
| | ?Palaeoscincus
| | Pawpawsaurus
| | ?Sarcolestes
| |?-Struthiosaurus
| |?-Anoplosaurus
| |?-Nodosaurus
| |--Edmontoniinae
| | |?-Niobrarasaurus
| | `--+?-Texasetes
| | `--+--Animantarx
| | `--Edmontonia
| `--Panoplosaurinae
| |--Panoplosaurus
| `--+--Sauropelta
| `--Silvisaurus
`---->Ankylosauridae
[ Top | Classification | Essay ]ALTERNATE CLADOGRAM:
--Nodosauridae
|--Hylaeosaurus
`--+--Pawpawsaurus
`--+--Sauropelta
`--Panoplosaurinae =Edmontoniinae
|--Edmontonia
`--Panoplosaurus
ESSAY
| S OLID PROTECTION:Ankylosaurs include the most heavily armored dinosaurs of all, the “tanks” of the Mesozoic. The entire back was covered with bony plates, studs, and spikes. So was the head, right down to the eyelids! (Bony eyelids have been found in Pawpawsaurus and Euoplocephalus, which are so distantly related within Ankylosauroidea as to suggest that all ankylosauroids had bony eyelids, at least primitively.) Some nodosaurids bore very large spikes along their sides, the largest often sprouting from the shoulders. These may have been used as defense, weapons in rivalry, or both. G EOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION:These animals are known from all continents except South America and Africa. They were most prevalent in Laurasia (the northern supercontinent). |
