Gargoyleosaurus

Gargoyleosaurus

Taxobox
name = "Gargoyleosaurus"
fossil_range = Late Jurassic



image_width = 275px
image_caption = Fossil skeleton of "Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum" at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = Thyreophora
infraordo = Ankylosauria
familia = Ankylosauridae?
subfamilia = Polacanthinae?
genus = "Gargoyleosaurus"
species = "G. parkpinorum"
binomial = "Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum"
binomial_authority = Carpenter "et al". 1998

"Gargoyleosaurus" (meaning "gargoyle lizard") is both the smallest and the earliest well-known ankylosaur. Its skull measures only 29 cm in length, and its total body length is an estimated three to four meters. It may have weighed as much as a tonne. The holotype was discovered at the Bone Cabin Quarry West locality, in Albany County, Wyoming in exposures of the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian to Tithonian stages) Morrison Formation.

The next earliest known ankylosaur is "Minmi paravertebrata" from the Aptian stage in Queensland, Australia. The type species, "G. parkpinorum" (originally "G. parkpini") was described by Ken Carpenter "et al." in 1998. A mounted skeletal reconstruction of "Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum" can be seen at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Holotype

The holotype specimen of "Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum" was collected by Western Paleontology Labs in 1996 and is currently held in the collections of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado. Besides the holotype, two other partial skeletons are known (although not yet desribed) The holoype consists of most of the skull and a partial postcranial skeleton. The specimen was originally described as "Gargoyleosaurus parkpini" by Carpenter, Miles and Cloward in 1998, then renamed "G. parkpinorum" by Carpenter "et al". in 2001, in accordance with ICZN art. 31.1.2A.

Classification

Much of the skull and skeleton has been recovered, and the taxon displays cranial sculpturing, including pronounced deltoid quadratojugal and squamosal bosses. The taxon is further characterized by a narrow rostrum (in dorsal view), the presence of seven conical teeth in each premaxilla, an incomplete osseous nasal septum, a linerarly arranged nasal cavity, the absence of an osseus secondary palate, and, as regards osteoderms, two sets of co-ossified cervical plates and a number of elongate conical spines.

Vickaryous "et al". (2004) place "Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum" within the Family Ankylosauridae of the Ankylosauria and are in agreement with most previous phylogenetic hypotheses, which place the genus as the sister group to all other ankylosaurids (i.e., members of the Ankylosauridae). These studies however, only utilized the skull, whereas many of the distinctive features of the family Polacanthidae are in the postcranial skeleton.

References

* Carpenter, K., Miles, C. and Cloward, K. (1998). "Skull of a Jurassic ankylosaur (Dinosauria)." "Nature" 393: 782-783.
* Carpenter, K. (ed.) "The Armored Dinosaurs". pp. 454-483. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
* Vickaryous, Maryanska, and Weishampel (2004). "Ankylosauria". in "The Dinosauria" (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.
* Killbourne, B. and Carpenter, K. (2005). "Redescription of "Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum", a polacanthid ankylosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Albany County, Wyoming". "Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie", 237, 111-160.

External links

* [http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/nature-online/dino-directory/detail.dsml?Genus=Gargoyleosaurus "Gargoyleosaurus"] from the Natural History Museum
* [http://www.dinoruss.com/de_4/5cabd39.htm "Gargoyleosaurus"] from the Dinosaur Encyclopedia


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Gargoyleosaurus — Nachbildung eines Skeletts von Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum Zeitraum Oberer Jura 155,7 bis 150,8 Mio. Jahre Fundorte USA …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gargoyleosaurus —   Gargoyleosaurus Rango temporal: Jurásico superior …   Wikipedia Español

  • Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum — Gargoyleosaurus Nachbildung eines Skeletts von Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum Zeitraum Oberer Jura 155 bis 145 Mio. Jahre Fossilfundorte USA …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ankylosaurier — Ankylosauria Skelett von Euoplocephalus Zeitraum Mittlerer Jura bis Oberkreide 160 bis 65 Mio. Jahre Fossilfundorte weltweit …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ankylosauridae —   Ankylosauridae Rango temporal: Jurásico Cretácico …   Wikipedia Español

  • Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation — Further information: Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic sedimentary rock that is found in the western United States, which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It …   Wikipedia

  • Ankylosauria — Skelett von Euoplocephalus Zeitraum Mitteljura bis Oberkreide 164,7 bis 65,5 Mio. Jahre Fundorte weltweit …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Polacanthinae — Für die systematische Einteilung der Lebewesen existieren nebeneinander mehrere Vorschläge. Das hier behandelte Taxon entspricht nicht der gegenwärtig in der deutschsprachigen Wikipedia verwendeten Systematik. Die Polacanthidae oder Polacanthinae …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Polacanthinae — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda ? Polacanthinae Rango fósil: Jurásico – Cretácico Gastonia b …   Wikipedia Español

  • Ankylosauridae — Taxobox name = Ankylosaurids image width = 240px image caption = Euoplocephalus fossil range = Jurassic Cretaceous regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Sauropsida superordo = Dinosauria ordo = †Ornithischia subordo = †Thyreophora… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”