Ankylosaur remains from the early cretaceous (valanginian) of northwestern Germany

A fragmentary cervico-pectoral lateral spine and partial humerus of an ankylosaur from the Early Cretaceous (early Valanginian) of Gronau in Westfalen, northwestern Germany, are described. The spine shows closest morphological similarities to the characteristic cervical and pectoral spines of Hylaeo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-04, Vol.8 (4), p.e60571-e60571
Main Authors: Sachs, Sven, Hornung, Jahn J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Ankylosauria
Ankylosaurs
Biology
Comparative analysis
Cretaceous
Cretaceous period
Dinosauria
Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs - anatomy & histology
Dinosaurs - classification
Earth Sciences
Fossils
Germany
Humerus
Humerus - anatomy & histology
Morphology
Museums
Natural history
Paleontology
Phylogeography
Physical characteristics
Reptiles & amphibians
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Spine
Spine - anatomy & histology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A fragmentary cervico-pectoral lateral spine and partial humerus of an ankylosaur from the Early Cretaceous (early Valanginian) of Gronau in Westfalen, northwestern Germany, are described. The spine shows closest morphological similarities to the characteristic cervical and pectoral spines of Hylaeosaurus armatus from the late Valanginian of England. An extensive comparison of distal humeri among thyreophoran dinosaurs supports systematic differences in the morphology of the distal condyli between Ankylosauria and Stegosauria and a referral of the Gronau specimen to the former. The humerus fragment indicates a rather small individual, probably in the size range of H. armatus, and both specimens are determined herein as ?Hylaeosaurus sp.. A short overview of other purported ankylosaur material from the Berriasian-Valanginian of northwest Germany shows that, aside from the material described herein, only tracks can be attributed to this clade with confidence at present.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0060571