family of reptiles (fossil) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Nodosaurids Temporal range: Upper Jurassic – Upper Cretaceous, 155–66 mya | |
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Gargoyleosaurus skeleton cast | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Order: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Thyreophora |
Suborder: | †Ankylosauria |
Clade: | †Euankylosauria |
Family: | †Nodosauridae Marsh, 1890 |
Subgroups | |
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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.
The following taxonomy follows Thompson et al., 2011 unless otherwise noted.[1]
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]
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