Lecture 22

Question 1

Ankylosauria

Answer 1

is the sister clade
of stegosauria;
both nested
within the ‘shield bearing’
group known as
thyreophora.

Question 2

Recall, the evolutionary
novelty of thyreophora:

Answer 2

the presence of one or more
rows of armour plates (osteoderms) in
the skin above or alongside
the vertebral column.

Question 3

“fused lizards”

Answer 3

Ankylosauria (“fused lizards”)
owing to the rod of fused
vertebrae along their backs.

Question 4

Ankylosauria key evolutionary novelties:

Answer 4

• Broadly arched rib cages and
  hip girdle
• Small triangular-shaped heads
  with low skulls (width between
  eyes > height of the skull)
  -Closed fenestra & added dermal
  bones on the skull

Question 5

Ankylosaur Diet

Answer 5

Ankylosaurs ate
low-growing
vegetation like ferns (<1
metre), chewing
lightly with tiny
leaf-shaped teeth.

Question 6

Ankylosaurs unique characteristic

Answer 6

Four rounded toes on rear limbs

Question 7

Ankylosaur Defense

Answer 7

When under attack, it
would have simply
squatted down. Their
low centre of gravity
would have made it
very difficult to flip
over (same goes for a
military tank). Their stomach is there vulnerable point

Question 8

Edmontonia

Answer 8

is a nodosaur from the
Late Cretaceous of Alberta found in the
Dinosaur Park Formation stata 75 Ma

Question 9

Euoplocephalus (yew-op-lo-sef-a-les).

Answer 9

Within the Dinosaur Park Formation we also find the ankylosaur

Question 10

Dinosaur Park Formation (~75 Ma)

Answer 10

Edmontonia & Euoplocephalus lived alongside hadrosaurs such as Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus, and
ceratopsians. The tyrannosaurs of the time were Gorgosaurus & Daspletosaurus.

Question 11

In 2017 a new species of ankylosaur was
named

Answer 11

Zuul crurivastator
following the discovery of a
spectacular specimen from 75 Ma strata in Montana. It includes a tail club with
triangular-shaped osteoderms.

Question 12

occurs as very rare fossils in the Hell Creek
Formation (68 – 66 Ma), living alongside T-rex, Triceratops,
and Edmontosaurus.

Answer 12

Ankylosaurus
-It is the largest known anklyosaur, weighing in at 6 tonnes (13,000
pounds).

Question 13

Borealopelta

Answer 13

Another new species was named in 2017 (in addition to Zuul) – this was another spectacular dino mummy; however, this find came from the oil sands mines of northern Alberta.

Meet the Early Cretaceous
(115 Ma) nodosaur named
Borealopelta. (“northern shield”)