This timeline of ankylosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

focused on the

ankylosaurs Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...

, quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs who were protected by a covering bony plates and spikes and sometimes by a clubbed tail. Although formally trained scientists did not begin documenting ankylosaur fossils until the early 19th century, Native Americans had a long history of contact with these remains, which were generally interpreted through a mythological lens. The

Delaware people The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

have stories about smoking the bones of ancient monsters in a magic ritual to have wishes granted and ankylosaur fossils are among the local fossils that may have been used like this. The Native Americans of the modern southwestern United States tell stories about an armored monster named Yeitso that may have been influenced by local ankylosaur fossils. Likewise, ankylosaur remains are among the dinosaur bones found along the

Red Deer River The Red Deer River is a river in Alberta and a small portion of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a major tributary of the South Saskatchewan River and is part of the larger Saskatchewan-Nelson system that empties into Hudson Bay. Red Deer River h ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, Canada where the Piegan people believe that the Grandfather of the Buffalo once lived. The first scientifically documented ankylosaur remains were recovered from

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145& ...

rocks in England and named '' Hylaeosaurus armatus'' by

Gideon Mantell Gideon Algernon Mantell MRCS FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was a British obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstruct the structure and life of ''Iguanodon'' began the scientific study of dinosaurs: in ...

1833 Events January–March * January 3 – Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. * February 6 – His Royal Highness Prince Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria assumes the title His Majesty Othon the ...

. However, the Ankylosauria itself would not be named until

Henry Fairfield Osborn Henry Fairfield Osborn, Sr. (August 8, 1857 – November 6, 1935) was an American paleontologist, geologist and eugenics advocate. He was the president of the American Museum of Natural History for 25 years and a cofounder of the American Euge ...

did so in

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

nearly a hundred years later. Prior to this, the ankylosaurs had been considered members of the

Stegosauria Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europ ...

, which included all armored dinosaurs when

Othniel Charles Marsh Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of Paleontology in Yale College and President of the National Academy of Sciences. He was one of the preeminent scientists in the field of paleontology. Among ...

named the group in

1877 Events January–March * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed ''Empress of India'' by the ''Royal Titles Act 1876'', introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great ...

. It was not until

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 ...

that

Alfred Sherwood Romer Alfred Sherwood Romer (December 28, 1894 – November 5, 1973) was an American paleontologist and biologist and a specialist in vertebrate evolution. Biography Alfred Romer was born in White Plains, New York, the son of Harry Houston Romer an ...

implemented the modern use of the name Stegosauria as specifically pertaining to the plate-backed and spike-tailed dinosaurs of the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

that form the ankylosaurs' nearest relatives. The next major revision to ankylosaur taxonomy would not come until

Walter Coombs Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

divided the group into the two main families paleontologists still recognize today; the nodosaurids and

ankylosaurids Ankylosauridae () is a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, and is the sister group to Nodosauridae. The oldest known Ankylosaurids date to around 122 million years ago and went extinct 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Pal ...

. Since then, many new ankylosaur genera and species have been discovered from all over the world and continue to come to light. Many fossil ankylosaur trackways have also been recognized. ImageSize = width:1250px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:1830 till:2050 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:1850 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:1830 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:1700s value:rgb(0.5,0.78,0.31) id:1700syears value:rgb(0.63,0.78,0.65) id:1800s value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:1800syears value:rgb(0.95,0.98,0.11) id:1900s value:rgb(0.94,0.25,0.24) id:1900syears value:rgb(0.95,0.56,0.45) id:2000s value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.79) id:2000syears value:rgb(0.52,0.81,0.91) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:NAM3 bar:NAM4 bar:NAM5 bar:NAM6 bar:NAM7 bar:NAM8 bar:NAM9 bar:NAM10 bar:NAM11 bar:NAM12 bar:NAM13 bar:NAM14 bar:NAM15 bar:NAM16 bar:NAM17 bar:NAM18 bar:NAM19 bar:NAM20 bar:NAM21 bar:NAM22 bar:NAM23 bar:NAM24 bar:NAM25 bar:NAM26 bar:NAM27 bar:NAM28 bar:NAM29 bar:NAM30 bar:NAM31 bar:NAM32 bar:NAM33 bar:NAM34 bar:NAM35 bar:NAM36 bar:NAM37 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from:1830 till:1840 color:1800syears text:

30s The prokaryotic small ribosomal subunit, or 30 S subunit, is the smaller subunit of the 70S ribosome found in prokaryotes. It is a complex of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and 19 proteins. This complex is implicated in the binding of transfer R ...

from:1840 till:1850 color:1800syears text: 40s from:1850 till:1860 color:1800syears text: 50s from:1860 till:1870 color:1800syears text:

60s Ribosomal particles are denoted according to their sedimentation coefficients in Svedberg units. The 60S subunit is the large subunit of eukaryotic 80S ribosomes. It is structurally and functionally related to the 50S subunit of 70S prokaryotic ...

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10s The 10s decade ran from January 1, AD 10, to December 31, AD 19. In Europe, the decade saw the end of the Early Imperial campaigns in Germania when Roman forces led by Germanicus defeated Germanic tribes in the Battle of Idistaviso in 16 AD. ...

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20th 20 (twenty; Roman numeral XX) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units may also be referred to as a score. In mathematics *20 is a pronic number. *20 is a tetrahedral number as 1, 4, 10, 20. *20 is the ba ...

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21st 21 (twenty-one) is the natural number following 20 and preceding 22. The current century is the 21st century AD, under the Gregorian calendar. In mathematics 21 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7, and a defici ...

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Hylaeosaurus ''Hylaeosaurus'' ( ; Greek: / "belonging to the forest" and / "lizard") is a herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived about 136 million years ago, in the late Valanginian stage of the early Cretaceous period of England. It was found ...

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Palaeoscincus ''Palaeoscincus'' (meaning "ancient skink" from the Greek παλαιός and σκίγγος) is a dubious genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur based on teeth from the mid-late Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana. Like ...

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Polacanthus ''Polacanthus'', deriving its name from the Ancient Greek polys-/πολύς- "many" and akantha/ἄκανθα "thorn" or "prickle", is an early armoured, spiked, plant-eating ankylosaurian dinosaur from the early Cretaceous period of England. In ...

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Struthiosaurus ''Struthiosaurus'' (Latin ''struthio'' = ostrich + Greek ''sauros'' = lizard) is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaurs, from the Late Cretaceous period (Santonian-Maastrichtian) of Austria, Romania, France and Hungary in Europe. ...

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Priodontognathus ''Priodontognathus'' (meaning "saw tooth jaw") was a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur possibly from the Oxfordian-age Upper Jurassic Lower Calcareous Grit of Yorkshire, England. It is a dubious genus based on a maxilla, and has been erroneousl ...

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Anoplosaurus ''Anoplosaurus'' (meaning "unarmored or unarmed lizard") is an extinct genus of herbivorous nodosaurid dinosaur, from the late Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Cambridge Greensand of Cambridgeshire, England. It has in the past been classified with ...

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Priconodon ''Priconodon'' (meaning "saw cone tooth") is an extinct genus of dinosaur (perhaps nodosaurid), known from its large teeth. Its remains have been found in the Aptian-Albian age Lower Cretaceous Arundel Formation of Muirkirk, Prince George's Count ...

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Nodosaurus ''Nodosaurus'' (meaning "knobbed lizard") is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, the fossils of which are found exclusively in the Frontier Formation in Wyoming. Description ''Nodosaurus'' gre ...

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Euoplocephalus ''Euoplocephalus'' ( ) is a genus of very large, herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaurs, living during the Late Cretaceous of Canada. It has only one named species, ''Euoplocephalus tutus''. The first fossil of ''Euoplocephalus'' was found in 1 ...

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Hoplitosaurus ''Hoplitosaurus'' (meaning "Hoplite lizard") was a genus of armored dinosaur related to ''Polacanthus''. It was named from a partial skeleton found in the ?Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Lakota Formation of Custer County, South Dakota. It is an ...

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Ankylosaurus ''Ankylosaurus'' is a genus of armored dinosaur. Its fossils have been found in geological formations dating to the very end of the Cretaceous Period, about 68–66 million years ago, in western North America, making it among the last of th ...

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Edmontonia ''Edmontonia'' is a genus of panoplosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. It is part of the Nodosauridae, a family within Ankylosauria. It is named after the Edmonton Formation (now the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Ca ...

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Scolosaurus ''Scolosaurus'' is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the lower levels of the Dinosaur Park Formation and upper levels of the Oldman Formation in the Late Cretaceous (latest middle Cam ...

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Polacanthoides ''Polacanthoides'' (meaning '' Polacanthus like'') is an extinct genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Europe. It lived about 140 to 135 million years ago in what is now England. It was named by Nopsca in 1928. The type specimen is BMNH 2584. It is ...

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Brachypodosaurus ''Brachypodosaurus'' (meaning "short-footed lizard") is a dubious genus of dinosaur, possibly an ornithischian, from the Late Cretaceous Lameta Formation ( Maastrichtian) in India. The only remains discovered so far for this animal consist ...

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Sauroplites ''Sauroplites'' (meaning "saurian hoplite") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China. Discovery and naming In 1930, the Swedish paleontologist Anders Birger Bohlin during the Swedish-Chinese expedition ...

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Stegosaurides ''Stegosaurides'' (meaning "''Stegosaurus''-shaped") is a genus of herbivorous thyreophoran (perhaps ankylosaurid or possibly stegosaurian) dinosaur. It lived during the Cretaceous. Its fossils were found in the Xinminbao Group near Heishan in G ...

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Silvisaurus ''Silvisaurus'', from the Latin silva "woodland" and Greek sauros "lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Early to Late Cretaceous period. Discovery and species A fossil of the species was discovered in the fifties by rancher Warren ...

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Sauropelta ''Sauropelta'' ( ; meaning 'lizard shield') is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaur that existed in the Early Cretaceous Period of North America. One species (''S. edwardsorum'') has been named although others may have existed. Anatomically, ''Saurope ...

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Tarchia ''Tarchia'' (meaning "brainy one") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Discovery and naming In 1970, a Polish-Mongolian expedition discovered an ankylosaurian skull near Khulsan. In 1977, Ter ...

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Saichania ''Saichania'' (Mongolian meaning "beautiful one") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Mongolia and China. The first fossils of ''Saichania'' were found in the early 1970s in Mongolia. In 1977 the ...

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Dracopelta ''Dracopelta'' (meaning “dragon shield”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from Portugal that lived during the Late Jurassic (uppermost lower Tithonian-upper Tithonian, 152.1-145.0 Ma) in what is now the Lourinhã Formation. The ...

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Minmi Michiko Evwana (born December 8, 1974), better known by her stage name , is a Japanese hip-hop and reggae musician,, United Daily News (in Chinese), August 22, 2008 as well as a singer-songwriter and record producer. She is the first soca a ...

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Shamosaurus ''Shamosaurus'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur from Early Cretaceous (Aptian to Albian stage) deposits of Höövör, Mongolia. Discovery and naming In 1977, a Soviet-Mongolian expedition discovered the skeleto ...

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Maleevus ''Maleevus'' (named in honour of Evgeny Maleev) is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous, around 90 million years ago (possibly 98-83 Ma), of Mongolia. Discovery and naming Between 1946 and 1949, Soviet-M ...

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Denversaurus ''Denversaurus'' (meaning "Denver lizard") is a genus of panoplosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) of western North America. Although at one point treated as a junior synonym of ''Edmontonia'' by some t ...

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Tsagantegia ''Tsagantegia'' (; meaning Tsagan Teg) is a genus of medium-sized ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. The genus is monotypic, including only the type species, ''T. longicranialis''. The specime ...

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Mymoorapelta ''Mymoorapelta'' (Meaning "Vannetta Moore and Pete and Marilyn Mygatt's shield" after a combination of the names of the discoverers of the Mygatt-Moore Quarry that fossils were originally collected from, and pɛltə "shield") is a monospecific ...

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Texasetes ''Texasetes'' (meaning " Texas resident") is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaurs from the late Lower Cretaceous of North America. This poorly known genus has been recovered from the Paw Paw Formation (late Albian) near Haslet, Tarrant Count ...

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Pawpawsaurus ''Pawpawsaurus'', meaning "Pawpaw Lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Cretaceous (late Albian) of Tarrant County, Texas, discovered in May 1992. The only species yet assigned to this taxon, ''Pawpawsaurus campbelli,'' is based on a co ...

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Gargoyleosaurus ''Gargoyleosaurus'' (meaning "gargoyle lizard") is one of the earliest ankylosaurs known from reasonably complete fossil remains. The holotype was discovered in 1995 at the Bone Cabin Quarry West locality, in Albany County, Wyoming in exposures ...

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Tianzhenosaurus ''Tianzhenosaurus'' (meaning “Tianzhen lizard”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Shanxi Province that lived during the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Campanian, ~99-71 Ma) in what is now the Huiquanpu Formation. ''Tianzh ...

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Nodocephalosaurus ''Nodocephalosaurus'' (meaning "knob headed lizard") is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian to early Maastrichtian stage, 73.49 to 73.04 Ma) in what is now the De-n ...

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Glyptodontopelta ''Glyptodontopelta'' (meaning "''Glyptodon'' shield") is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous (lower to upper Maastrichtian, 69 to 66 Ma) in what is now the Naashoibito member of the ...

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Liaoningosaurus ''Liaoningosaurus'' is an unusual genus of ankylosaurian dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous period of China. It contains a single species, ''Liaoningosaurus paradoxus'', and is represented by two fossil specimens collected from the Yixian Form ...

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Cedarpelta ''Cedarpelta'' is a extinct genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous period ( Cenomanian to lower Turonian stage, 98.2 to 93 Ma) in what is now the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formati ...

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Bissektipelta ''Bissektipelta'' (meaning " Bissekty shield") is a genus of ankylosaurine thyreophoran dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. ''Bissektipelta'' is a monospecific genus, co ...

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Hungarosaurus ''Hungarosaurus tormai'' is a herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous ( Santonian) Csehbánya Formation of the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary. It is the most completely known ankylosaur from the Cretaceous of Europe. ...

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Antarctopelta ''Antarctopelta'' ( ; meaning 'Antarctic shield') was a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur with one known species, ''A. oliveroi'', which lived in Antarctica during the Late Cretaceous Period. It was a medium-sized ankylosaur, reaching 4 meters (13& ...

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Zhejiangosaurus ''Zhejiangosaurus'' (meaning "Zhejiang lizard") is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous ( Cenomanian stage) of Zhejiang, eastern China. It was first named by a group of Chinese authors Lü Junchang, Jin Xings ...

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Peloroplites ''Peloroplites'' (meaning “monstrous heavy one”) is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian to lower Turonian stage, 98.2 to 93 Ma) in what is now the Mussentuchit Member ...

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Minotaurasaurus ''Minotaurasaurus'' (meaning “Minos'-bull reptile”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived in Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian stage, ~75-71 Ma) in what is now the Djadochta Formation. The type and onl ...

color:1900s bar:NAM6 at:2009 mark:(line,black) text: Tatankacephalus color:1900s bar:NAM7 at:2011 mark:(line,black) text: Ahshislepelta color:1900s bar:NAM8 at:2011 mark:(line,black) text: Propanoplosaurus color:1900s bar:NAM9 at:2013 mark:(line,black) text: Dongyangopelta color:1900s bar:NAM10 at:2013 mark:(line,black) text:

Europelta ''Europelta'' (meaning “Europe’s shield”) is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Spain that lived during the Early Cretaceous (early Albian stage, ~113.0 Ma) in what is now the lower Escucha Formation of the Teruel Province. Th ...

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Taohelong ''Taohelong'' is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaur known from Lower Cretaceous rocks in north-central China. ''Taohelong'' is based on Gansu Dinosaur Museum (GSDM) 00021, fossils including a tail vertebra, ribs, a left ilium (the main bone of th ...

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Chuanqilong ''Chuanqilong'' (meaning "legendary dragon") is a monospecific genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Liaoning Province, China that lived during the Early Cretaceous (late Barremian to Aptian stage, 122.0 to 118.9 Ma) in what is now the ...

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Crichtonpelta ''Crichtonpelta'' is a genus of extinct herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian) of China. Discovery and naming In 2007, Lü Junchang, Ji Qiang, Gao Yubo and Li Zhixin named and described a second species of ''C ...

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Zaraapelta ''Zaraapelta'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. The type species is ''Zaraapelta nomadis'', named and described by Arbour ''et al'' in 2014. ''Zaraapelta'' is known from ...

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Ziapelta ''Ziapelta'' is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid. Its fossils have been found in the Hunter Wash and De-na-zin members of the Kirtland Formation of Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) New Mexico. It was named in 2014, in a research paper led by ankylos ...

color:1900s bar:NAM17 at:2015 mark:(line,black) text: Horshamosaurus color:1900s bar:NAM18 at:2015 mark:(line,black) text:

Kunbarrasaurus ''Kunbarrasaurus'' is an extinct genus of small herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Australia. Discovery In November 1989, at Marathon Station near Richmond, Queensland, the skeleton was discovered of an ankylosau ...

color:1900s bar:NAM19 at:2017 mark:(line,black) text: Zuul color:1900s bar:NAM20 at:2017 mark:(line,black) text: Borealopelta color:1900s bar:NAM21 at:2018 mark:(line,black) text: Platypelta color:1900s bar:NAM22 at:2018 mark:(line,black) text: Jinyupelta color:1900s bar:NAM23 at:2018 mark:(line,black) text: Acantholipan color:1900s bar:NAM24 at:2018 mark:(line,black) text: Invictarx color:1900s bar:NAM25 at:2018 mark:(line,black) text:

Akainacephalus ''Akainacephalus'' (meaning "thorn head") is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from southern Utah that lived during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian, 76.26 Ma) in what is now the Horse Mountain Gryposaur Quarry of the Kaiparowi ...

color:1900s bar:NAM26 at:2020 mark:(line,black) text: Sinankylosaurus color:1900s bar:NAM27 at:2021 mark:(line,black) text:

Stegouros ''Stegouros'' (, meaning "roofed tail") is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Dorotea Formation of southern Chile. The genus contains a single species, ''Stegouros elengassen'', known from a semi-articulated, near-comple ...

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Prescientific

* The

of what is now

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

had a tradition regarding a hunting party that returned with a piece of an ancient bone supposedly belonging to a monster that killed humans. One of the village's wise men instructed people to burn bits of the bone in clay spoons with

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and make a wish while the concoction was still smoking. This ritual could bestow such favors as success in hunting, long life, and health for one's children. This tale might be inspired by local fossils, which include ankylosaurs, '' Coelosaurus'', '' Dryptosaurus'', and '' Hadrosaurus''. * Traditional Navajo creation mythology portrays modern Earth as the most recent of a series of worlds. They believe that the earlier worlds were inhabited by monsters that were killed with lightning bolts wielded by the heroic Monster Slayers. The most terrifying monster of the old worlds was the Big Gray Monster, Yeitso. The Navajo of Arizona feared fossil remains, attributing them to his corpse. They believe that Yeitso's ghost still haunts his remains. Yeitso's

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...

-like scales may have been inspired by the fossilized armored plates of various prehistoric creatures that once lived in what is now the western US. Ankylosaurs like ''

'' are one such potential candidate for the source of Yeitso's armored hide. Others include non-ankylosaurs like the Permian amphibian ''

Eryops ''Eryops'' (; from Greek , , 'drawn-out' + , , 'face', because most of its skull was in front of its eyes) is a genus of extinct, amphibious temnospondyls. It contains the single species , the fossils of which are found mainly in early Permian (a ...

'',

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest per ...

phytosaurs Phytosaurs (Φυτόσαυροι in greek) are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria. Phytosauria and Phytosauridae are often considered to be equivalent g ...

and ''

Desmatosuchus ''Desmatosuchus'' (, from Greek δεσμός ''desmos'' 'link' + σοῦχος ''soûkhos'' 'crocodile') is an extinct genus of archosaur belonging to the Order Aetosauria. It lived during the Late Triassic. Description ''Desmatosuchus'' was ...

'', as well as other armored dinosaurs like ''

Scutellosaurus ''Scutellosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of thyreophoran ornithischian dinosaur that lived approximately 196 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now Arizona, USA. It is classified in Thyreophora, the armoured di ...

'' or ''

Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been fou ...

''. * The Piegan people of

attributed the fossils of dinosaurs to the "grandfather of the buffalo" they left offerings of cloth and tobacco to this mythical creature near the

. Ankylosaur remains are among those preserved in the area that helped inspire this legend and associated practice, as are the remains of

ceratopsians Ceratopsia or Ceratopia ( or ; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic ...

, hadrosaurs, and carnivorous

theropods Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally ca ...

19th century

1830s

1832 * Quarry workers discovered a fossilized partial skeleton. The remains were sent to paleontologist Gideon Mantell, who recognized that they represented a significant scientific discovery. * Mantell reported the specimen discovered by quarry workers that would later be formally named Hylaeosaurus to the Geological Society. 1833 *

described the new

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

and

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

'' Hylaeosaurus armatus''. This was the first ankylosaur ever discovered, although the group itself would not be recognized and named for many years.

1840s

1842 ''Early April'' *

Sir Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Ow ...

published his second report on British fossil reptiles, wherein he formally named the Dinosauria. ''Hylaeosaurus'' was included as a founding member and was the third dinosaur to be named. 1843 * Fitzinger described the new species '' Hylaeosaurus mantellii''. 1844 * Mantell described the new species '' Hylaeosaurus oweni''.

1850s

1856 *

Joseph Leidy Joseph Mellick Leidy (September 9, 1823 – April 30, 1891) was an American paleontologist, parasitologist and anatomist. Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, later was a professor of natural history at Swarthmore ...

described the new genus and species '' Palaeoscincus costatus''. He considered it to be an herbivore. 1858 * Sir Richard Owen published a study on Hylaeosaurus.

1860s

1865 * Reverend William Fox discovered the Polacanthus type specimen. 1867 * Sir Richard Owen described the new genus ''

''. He also described the new genus and species '' Acanthopholis horridus''. 1869 *

Harry Govier Seeley Harry Govier Seeley (18 February 1839 – 8 January 1909) was a British paleontologist. Early life Seeley was born in London on 18 February 1839, the second son of Richard Hovill Seeley, a goldsmith, and his second wife Mary Govier. When his fat ...

described the new species ''

Acanthopholis eucercus ''Acanthopholis'' (; meaning "spiny scales") is a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur in the family Nodosauridae that lived during the Late Cretaceous Period of England. A single species, ''A. horrida'', exists. History Around 1865 commercial foss ...

'' and '' A. macrocercus'' and '' A. platypus'' and '' A. stereocercus''. He also described the new genus and species ''

Cryptosaurus eumerus ''Cryptosaurus'' (meaning "hidden lizard") is a dubious genus of dinosaur known from a partial femur from the Late Jurassic of England. The sole species is ''Cryptosaurus eumerus''. The femur was found by the geologist Lucas Ewbank and donated ...

''. He also described the new species ''

Iguanodon phillipsii ''Priodontognathus'' (meaning " saw tooth jaw") was a genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur possibly from the Oxfordian-age Upper Jurassic Lower Calcareous Grit of Yorkshire, England. It is a dubious genus based on a maxilla, and has been erroneous ...

''.

1870s

1871 * Bunzel described the new genus and species '' Struthiosaurus austriacus''. He also described the new genus and species '' Danubiosaurus anceps''. 1875 * Seeley erected the new genus ''

'' to house the species ''Iguanodon phillipsii''. 1879 * Seeley described the new genus and species '' Anoplosaurus curtonotus'' and '' Anoplosaurus major''. Seeley also described the new genus and species '' Eucercosaurus tanyspondylus''. He also described the new genus and species '' Syngonosaurus macrocercus''.

1880s

1881 * Seeley described the new genus '' Crataeomus'', with two new species: C. ''lepidophorus'' and '' C. pawlowitschii''. He also described the new genus and species '' Hoplosaurus ischyrus'', the new genus and species '' Pleuropeltis suessi'', and the new genus and species ''

Rhadinosaurus alcinus ''Rhadinosaurus'' (meaning "slender lizard") is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur first described in 1881 by Harry Seeley, Harry Govier Seeley, based on remains uncovered in Austria sometime between 1859 and 1870 by Edward Suess and Pawlowitsch. I ...

''. * Hulke described the new species '' Hylaeosaurus foxii''. 1882 * The British Museum of Natural History bought a large number of fossils from Rev. Fox, including the Polacanthus type specimen. 1888 *

described the new genus and species '' Priconodon crassus''. Palaeoscincus costatus

1889 * Marsh described the new genus and species ''

Nodosaurus textilis ''Nodosaurus'' (meaning "knobbed lizard") is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, the fossils of which are found exclusively in the Frontier Formation in Wyoming. Description ''Nodosaurus'' ...

''. *

Richard Lydekker Richard Lydekker (; 25 July 1849 – 16 April 1915) was an English naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history. Biography Richard Lydekker was born at Tavistock Square in London. His father was Gerard Wolfe Lydekker ...

described the new genus '' Cryptodraco'' to house the species ''

''.

1890s

1890 * Marsh named the

Nodosauridae Nodosauridae is a family of ankylosaurian dinosaurs, from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period in what is now North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Description Nodosaurids, like their close relatives the ankylosaurids ...

. He regarded them as relatives of the

stegosaurs Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europ ...

due to the shared presence of bony plates embedded in the skin. 1892 * Marsh described the new genus and species '' Palaeoscincus latus''. 1893 * Lydekker described the new genus and species '' Sarcolestes leedsi''.

20th century

1900s

Ankylosaurus magniventris reconstruction

1901 * F. A. Lucas described the new species '' Stegosaurus marshi'', and later reclassified it as ''Polacanthus marshi.'' 1902 *

Lawrence Lambe Lawrence Morris Lambe (August 27, 1863 – March 12, 1919) was a Canadian geologist, palaeontologist, and ecologist from the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). His published work, describing the diverse and plentiful dinosaur discoveries from th ...

described the new genus and species '' Stereocephalus tutus''. He also described the new species '' Palaeoscincus asper''. He regarded ankylosaurs as herbivores. * Lucas erected the genus ''

'' to house the species "''Polacanthus''" ''marshi''. *

Franz Nopcsa Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see Fran ...

described the new genus and species '' Onychosaurus hungaricus''. 1905 *

Samuel Williston Samuel Williston (September 24, 1861 – February 18, 1963) was an American lawyer and law professor who authored an influential treatise on contracts. Early life, education and family Williston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to a ...

described the new genus and species '' Stegopelta landerensis''. 1908 * Brown described the new genus and species ''

Ankylosaurus magniventris ''Ankylosaurus'' is a genus of armored dinosaur. Its fossils have been found in geological formations dating to the very end of the Cretaceous Period, about 68–66 million years ago, in western North America, making it among the last of th ...

''. He also named the

Ankylosauridae Ankylosauridae () is a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, and is the sister group to Nodosauridae. The oldest known Ankylosaurids date to around 122 million years ago and went extinct 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Pa ...

and

Ankylosaurinae Ankylosaurinae is a subfamily of ankylosaurid dinosaurs, existing from the Early Cretaceous about 105 million years ago until the end of the Late Cretaceous, about 66 mya. Many genera are included in the clade, such as ''Ankylosaurus'', ''Pina ...

. He followed Marsh's 1890 suggestion that ankylosaurs and stegosaurs were close relatives. 1909 * Wieland described the new genus and species '' Hierosaurus sternbergi''.

1910s

1914 * While collecting fossils in Dinosaur Provincial Park, William Edmund Cutler discovered the type specimen of an ankylosaur taxon that would later be named '' Scolosaurus cutleri'' in his honor. However, while undercutting the specimen it collapsed on him "resulting in serious upper body injuries." 1915 * Nopcsa described the new species '' Struthiosaurus transylvanicus''. 1918 * Nopcsa described the new genus and species ''

Leipsanosaurus noricus ''Struthiosaurus'' (Latin ''struthio'' = ostrich + Greek ''sauros'' = lizard) is a genus of nodosaurid dinosaurs, from the Late Cretaceous period (Santonian-Maastrichtian) of Austria, Romania, France and Hungary in Europe.

''. 1919 * Lambe described the new genus and species '' Panoplosaurus mirus''.

1920s

1923 *

named the

Ankylosauria Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...

. * Charles A. Matley described the new genus and species '' Lametasaurus indicus''. 1924 * Parks described the new genus and species ''

Dyoplosaurus acutosquameus ''Dyoplosaurus'' (meaning “double-armoured lizard”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from Alberta that lived during the Late Cretaceous (middle Campanian, ~76.5–75 Ma) in what is now the Dinosaur Park Formation. ''Dyoplosau ...

''. * Hennig described the new species '' Polacanthus becklesi''. 1927 *

published the first formal diagnosis for the Ankylosauria. He observed that the anatomy of the stegosaur pelvis and hindlimb as well as their primarily

age distinguished them from the mainly

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

. As the Stegosauria originally included all armored dinosaurs, Romer's distinction marked the beginning of the modern use of the name to refer to the plate-backed and spike-tailed dinosaurs. Scolosaurus cutleri

1928 * Nopcsa described the new genus ''

''. * Charles Sternberg described the new genus and species ''

Edmontonia longiceps ''Edmontonia'' is a genus of panoplosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. It is part of the Nodosauridae, a family within Ankylosauria. It is named after the Edmonton Formation (now the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Canada ...

''. 1929 * Nopcsa described the new species '' Scolosaurus cutleri''. * Nopcsa described the new genus and species ''

Polacanthoides ponderosus ''Polacanthoides'' (meaning ''Polacanthus like'') is an extinct genus of nodosauridae, nodosaurid dinosaur from Europe. It lived about 140 to 135 million years ago in what is now England. It was named by Nopsca in 1928. The type specimen is BMNH ...

'', and the new species '' Rhodanosaurus lugdunensis''. * Sternberg described the new genus and species '' Anodontosaurus lambei''.

1930s

1930 *

Charles Whitney Gilmore Charles Whitney Gilmore (March 11, 1874 – September 27, 1945) was an American paleontologist who gained renown in the early 20th century for his work on vertebrate fossils during his career at the United States National Museum (now the N ...

described the new genus and species '' Palaeoscincus rugosidens''. 1932 * Sternberg described the new ichnogenus and species ''Tetrapodosaurus borealis'' from the Early Cretaceous Gething Formation of British Columbia, Canada. He attributed the tracks to ceratopsians, but they would later be attributed to ankylosaurs. 1933 * Gilmore described the new genus and species ''

Pinacosaurus grangeri ''Pinacosaurus'' (meaning "Plank lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian, roughly 75 million to 71 million years ago), mainly in Mongolia and China. The first ...

''. 1934 * Chakravarti described the new genus and species '' Brachypodosaurus gravis''. 1935 * C. C. Young described the new species '' Pinacosaurus ninghsiensis''. 1936 * Mehl described the new species '' Nodosaurus coleii''.

1940s

1940 * Russell concluded that ankylosaurs chewed with a simple straight-up-and-down movement of the jaws and only fed on soft vegetation based on aspects of their skull and tooth anatomy.

1950s

1952 *

Evgeny Maleev Evgeny Aleksandrovich Maleev (, ; 25 February 1915 – 12 April 1966) was a Soviet and Russian paleontologist who did most of his research on reptiles and Asian fossils, such as the naming of the ankylosaur '' Talarurus'' and theropods '' Tar ...

described the new genus and species '' Syrmosaurus viminicaudus'', as well as the species '' S. disparoserratus''. * Maleev described the new genus and species '' Talarurus plicatospineus''. 1953 *

Birger Bohlin Dr. Anders Birger Bohlin (26 March 1898 – 28 November 1990) was a Swedish palaeontologist. As well as his work on dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals, Bohlin was part of the group that established the existence of Peking Man ''(Sinanthropus ...

described the new genus and species '' Peishansaurus philemys''. He also described the new genus and species '' Sauroplites scutiger'', and the new genus and species '' Stegosaurides excavatus''. 1955 * Nicholas Hotton regarded ankylosaurs as herbivores. 1956 * Maleev described the new species ''

Dyoplosaurus giganteus ''Tarchia'' (meaning "brainy one") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Discovery and naming In 1970, a Polish-Mongolian expedition discovered an ankylosaurian skull near Khulsan. In 1977, Teres ...

''.

1960s

1960 * T. H. Eaton described the new genus and species '' Silvisaurus condrayi''. 1963 * F. H. Khakimov discovered a new dinosaur track site in Shirkent National Park,

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

. * Zakharov and Khakimov reported the dinosaur track site discovered by the latter to the scientific literature. 1964 * Zakharov described the new ichnogenus and species ''Macropodosaurus gravis''. He attributed it to a theropod, but these tracks are more likely to have been produced by ankylosaurs. 1969 * Haas interpreted the ankylosaur diet and consisting of soft plants that ankylosaurs chewed with a simple straight-up-and-down movement of the jaws based on their skull and tooth anatomy.

1970s

1970 * John Ostrom described the new genus and species '' Sauropelta edwardsorum''. 1971 *

published landmark research into ankylosaur taxonomy, bringing order to a once "chaotic and confused" field of study. He recognized two main groups of ankylosaurs, the

and

. Coombs interpreted the ankylosaur diet as consisting of soft plants that ankylosaurs chewed with a simple straight-up-and-down movement of the jaws based on their skull and tooth anatomy. * Haubold reported the presence of the ichnospecies ''Metatetrapous valdensis'' from the Buckeburg Formation of Germany. This ichnospecies is attributed to ankylosaurs. 1972 * Coombs observed that ''Euoplocephalus'' was so thoroughly armored that there was even a bony plate protecting its eyelids. 1977 *

Teresa Maryanska Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or rea ...

described the new genus ''

'' for the species "''Dyoplosaurus''" ''giganteus''. She also named the new species ''

Tarchia kielanae ''Tarchia'' (meaning "brainy one") is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Discovery and naming In 1970, a Polish-Mongolian expedition discovered an ankylosaurian skull near Khulsan. In 1977, Teres ...

'' and the new genus and species '' Saichania chulsanensis''. She followed the scheme proposed by Coombs earlier that decade dividing the ankylosaurs into ankylosaurids and nodosaurids. She also made observations regarding ankylosaur limb posture, noting that while the hind limb was nearly straight up and down, the humerus was oriented at an angle downward and toward the rear of the animal. When studying the ankylosaur tail she noted that the

centra Centra is a convenience shop chain that operates throughout Ireland. The chain operates as a symbol group owned by Musgrave Group, the food wholesaler, meaning the stores are all owned by individual franchisees. The chain has three different ...

of the vertebrae near its tip are fused, which would make it hard for the animal to raise the tail club very high. 1978 * Kurzanov and Tumanova described the new genus and species ''

Amtosaurus magnus ''Amtosaurus'' (; " Amtgai lizard") is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur based on a fragmentary skull collected from the Upper Cretaceous Bayan Shireh Formation ( Cenomanian to Santonian) of Mongolia and originally believed to represent an a ...

''. * Coombs published more work on ankylosaur taxonomy. He noted that ankylosaurs were probably completely unable to walk on their hind legs and published further remarks on ankylosaur limb posture. He argued that while some researchers interpreted some aspects of ankylosaur forelimb anatomy as adaptations for digging, their hoof-like toe nails made this interpretation unlikely. 1979 * Coombs interpreted the bony

tendons A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its abilit ...

near the tip of the ankylosaur tail as a means to convey the forces generated by the tail musculature closer to the animal's body all the way down to its club.

1980s

1980 *

Ralph Molnar Ralph E. Molnar is a paleontologist who had been Curator of Mammals at the Queensland Museum and more recently associated with the Museum of Northern Arizona. He is also a research associate at the Texas natural Science Centre. He co-authored descr ...

described the new genus and species '' Minmi paravertebra''. *

Peter Galton Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosa ...

described the new genus and species '' Dracopelta zbyszewskii''. 1982 * Delair described the new genus '' Vectensia''. 1983 * Tumanova described the new genus and species '' Shamosaurus scutatus''. * Campbell reported the presence of dinosaur footprints in the Toro Toro Formation of Bolivia which he attributed to sauropods. 1984 * Kenneth Carpenter attributed the ichnogenus ''Tetrapodosaurus'' reported by Sternberg from British Columbia in the 1930s to ankylosaurs rather than ceratopsians. He argued that the most likely trackmaker was ''Sauropelta''. * Leonardi described the dinosaur footprints reported by Campbell the previous year in detail and named them ''Ligabuichnium bolivianum''. Rather than sauropods, Leonardi argued that these tracks were produced by ankylosaurs or ceratopsians although it was difficult ascertain which of these taxa were responsible due to the poor preservation of the tracks. 1986 * Galton interpreted the ankylosaur diet and consisting of soft plants that ankylosaurs chewed with a simple straight-up-and-down movement of the jaws based on their skull and tooth anatomy. 1987 * Paul Ensom described dinosaur footprints from the Purbeck Beds of England once thought to have been left by sauropods. They are now thought to have been left by ankylosaurs. * Tumanova erected the new genus ''

'' to house the species ''Syrmosaurus disparoserratus''. Tumanova followed the scheme proposed by Coombs earlier that decade dividing the ankylosaurs into ankylosaurids and nodosaurids. * Gasparini and others reported ankylosaur remains from Antarctica. 1988 * Robert Bakker described the new genus and species '' Denversaurus schlessmani''. He also erected the new genus '' Chassternbergia'' for the species "''Edmontonia''" ''rugosidens''. 1989 * Currie reported the discovery of a ''Tetrapodosaurus'' track from British Columbia. Although he could not confidently identify its stratigraphic origin, the rock preserving the tracks has since been attributed to the Dunvegan Formation. * A worker at the Smoky River Coal Mine near Grande Cache, Alberta alerted the Royal Tyrell Museum to the presence of dinosaur footprints in the area. This site would come to be recognized as the most important ankylosaur track site in the world.

1990s

1990 * Coombs and Maryanska remarked that the boney secondary palate of the ankylosaur skull would have strengthened it by acting as a brace. * A well-preserved skeleton of ''Minmi'' was excavated from the Allaru Formation in Queensland, Australia by the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum is the state museum of Queensland, dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museum in South Brisbane with specialist m ...

and catalogued as QM F18101. The skeleton was mostly articulated, including its armor. Since most ankylosaur specimens do not preserve the life arrangement of their armor, QM F18101 represented a rare find. The specimen also preserved the animal's gut contents, the first to be discovered in any armored dinosaur. 1991 * Lockley argued that the supposed sauropod tracks reported by Ensom from the Purbeck Beds of Dorset, England were actually made by ankylosaurs. * Frank DeCourten discovered dinosaur tracks preserved in the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah that were likely produced by ankylosaurs. 1993 * Tumanova described the new genus and species '' Tsagantegia longicranialis''. * Jerzykiewicz and others reported the presence of borings of unknown cause on the bones of some juvenile ''

'' from Bayan Mandahu,

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

, China. * Z. Dong described the new genus and species '' Tianchisaurus nedegoaperferima''. *

Thulborn Thulborn is an Anglo-Saxon surname dating back to the late 12th century AD, derived from the baptismal name for the "son of Thurburn". Notable people with the surname include: * Richard A. Thulborn, British paleontologist * Scott Thulborn (born 198 ...

proposed that the tail club of ankylosaurs may actually have functioned as a "false head" meant to distract predators. However, this hypothesis has not received much support from the paleontological community, and has been criticized as "dubiou . * Grady published an illustration of an ankylosaur trackway from the "Mine" site in the Smoky River Coal Mine at Grande Cache, Alberta. 1994 * Kirkland and

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

described the new genus and species '' Mymoorapelta maysi''. * Psihoyos and Knoebber described a dinosaur track site in the Smoky Hill Coal Mine of Grande Cache, Alberta and reported that the site had been destroyed in a rock slide. * Whyte and Romano described the new ichnogenus and species ''Deltapodus brodericki'' for dinosaur footprints discovered in the Aalenian-Bajocian Saltwick Formation of Yorkshire, England. The authors attributed the tracks to sauropods, but they may actually have been made by ankylosaurs. * Leonardi concluded that the Bolivian ''Ligabuichnium'' tracks were made by an ankylosaur after all. 1995 * Carpenter, Dilkes, and Weishampel erected the new genus '' Niobrarasaurus'' to house the species '' Hierosaurus coleii''. * Coombs studied the anatomy of the tail of ''Euoplocephalus'' and concluded that its club was held just slightly off the ground rather than dragging or held and a significant height. He reiterated observations previously made in 1977 by Maryanska that the fusion of the vertebral centra near the tip of the animal's tail would make it difficult to raise very high. * Coombs described the new genus and species '' Texasetes pleurohalio''. 1996 * Lee described the new genus and species '' Pawpawsaurus campbelli''. * Molnar reported the existence of a second species of ''Minmi'' but did not name it. Gastoniasaur

* Blows described the new species '' Polacanthus rudgwickensis''. 1997 * Witmer studied archosaur "craniofacial pneumaticity". He concluded that rather than performing a biological function,

paranasal sinuses Paranasal sinuses are a group of four paired air-filled spaces that surround the nasal cavity. The maxillary sinuses are located under the eyes; the frontal sinuses are above the eyes; the ethmoidal sinuses are between the eyes and the sph ...

in archosaurs "are best explained as an optimization of skull architecture". This cast doubt on various researchers' interpretations of the sometimes complex nasal cavities and sinus systems possessed by ankylosaurs. Past workers had thought that these cavities and sinuses may have given ankylosaurs an improved

sense of smell The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, ...

, housed

glands In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream ( endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface ( exocrine gland). Structure ...

, acted as a resonating chamber for loud vocalizations, or helped conserve body heat and moisture. 1998 * Carpenter,

Miles The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

, and Cloward described the new genus and species '' Gargoyleosaurus parkpinorum''. * Kirkland described the new genus and species '' Gastonia burgei''.

* Pang and Cheng described the new genus and species '' Tianzhenosaurus youngi''. * Barret and others described the new genus and species '' Shanxia tianzhensis''. * Sereno defined the ankylosaurs as all eurypods more closely related to ''Ankylosaurus'' than to ''Stegosaurus''. * McCrea and Currie described the dinosaur tracks discovered in the Smoky River Coal Mine at Grand Cache, Alberta. They noted that this was the most important ankylosaur track site ever discovered. * McCrea and others reported the first known ankylosaur skin impression to be preserved in a footprint tracks preserved in the Dunvegan Formation near Pouce Coupe, Alberta. 1999 * Godefroit and others described the new species ''

Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus ''Pinacosaurus'' (meaning "Plank lizard") is a genus of ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian, roughly 75 million to 71 million years ago), mainly in Mongolia and China. The first ...

''. * Sullivan described the new genus and species '' Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis''. * Carpenter and others described the new genus and species ''Animantarx ramaljonesi''. * Lockley and others described the 1991 possible ankylosaur footprint discovery in Utah. * Ishigaki reported possible ankylosaur footprints from the Djadokhta Formation of Mongolia.

21st century

2000s

2000 in paleontology, 2000 * Tracy Lee Ford, Ford described the new species ''Edmontonia australis'' and the new genus and species ''Glyptodontopelta mimus''. * Molnar and H. Trevor Clifford, Clifford reported fossilized gut contents in a specimen of ''Kunbarrasaurus, Minmi'', which consisted of plant matter. 2001 in paleontology, 2001 * Natalia Rybczynski, Rybczynsky and Matthew K. Vickaryous, Vickaryous studied the jaws and teeth of ''

''. Contrary to decades of support for ankylosaurs chewing with a simple straight-up-and-down movement, they noticed visible wear facets and microscopic grooves that could only be explained by relatively complex jaw movements. * P. M. Barrett, Barrett reported wear facets on the teeth of ''

''. * Molnar and H. Trevor Clifford, Clifford described the gut contents preserved in a specimen of the Australian ankylosaur ''Kunbarrasaurus, Minmi''. This specimen is catalogued by the Queensland Museum as QM F18101 and was excavated by the museum from near the Flinders River in 1990. The stomach contents consisted of plant vascular tissue, fruiting bodies, seeds, and possible fern spores. Molnar and Clifford described it as the most reliable evidence for the diet of an herbivorous dinosaur ever discovered. * McCrea, Lockley, and Meyer observed that by this point in the history of ankylosaur research, ankylosaurs track fossils had been reported from North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. Most of these trackways were preserved in moist floodplain habitats where plant life was abundant. They attributed the ''Metatetrapous valdensis'' tracks from the Buckeburg Formation of Germany reported by Haubold in 1971 to ankylosaurs. They similarly argued that ''Macropodosaurus gravis'' of Tajikistan was produced by an ankylosaur rather than a theropod. The authors reported a single possible ankylosaur footprint from the Dakota Group of Baca County, Colorado. They also proposed that several footprint specimens collected from the Blackhawk Formation of Utah may have been ankylosaurian. * Vickaryous and others described the new genus and species ''Gobisaurus domoculus''. * Carpenter and others described the new genus and species ''Cedarpelta bilbeyhallorum''. * Xu Xing (paleontologist), Xu, Wang Xiaolin, Wang, and You Hailu, You described the new genus and species ''Liaoningosaurus paradoxus''.

* Ford and Kirkland described the new genus and species ''Aletopelta coombsi''. 2002 in paleontology, 2002 * Dong described the new genus and species ''Crichtonsaurus bohlini''. * A. O. Averianov, Averianov described the new genus and species ''Amtosaurus archibaldi''. 2003 in paleontology, 2003 * Garcia and X. Pereda-Superbiola, Pereda-Superbiola described the new species ''Struthiosaurus languedocensis''. * Vickaryous and Russell described the common ways ankylosaur skulls were distorted after death that could potentially confound anatomical interpretation. They noted a relationship between this tendency to suffer distortion and their unusual cranial traits like the fusion of the skull bones and their "embossing" cranial ornamentation. 2004 in paleontology, 2004 * Averianov, 2002, vide Parish & Barrett, 2004 described the new genus and species ''Bissektipelta archibaldi''. Minotaurasaurus BW

2005 in paleontology, 2005 * Ősi described the new genus and species ''Hungarosaurus tormai''. 2006 in paleontology, 2006 * Salgado and Gasparini described the new genus and species ''Antarctopelta oliveroi''. 2007 in paleontology, 2007 * Lü Junchang; Jin Xingsheng; Sheng Yiming; Li Yihong described the new genus and species ''Zhejiangosaurus lishuiensis''. * Xu and others described the new genus and species ''Zhongyuansaurus luoyangensis''. 2008 in paleontology, 2008 * Carpenter and others described the new genus and species ''Peloroplites cedrimontanus'' * Burns synonymizes ''Edmontonia australis'' with ''Glyptodontopelta mimus'' and confirms the validity of the latter Skeletal reconstruction of Europelta

2009 in paleontology, 2009 * Miles and Miles described the new genus and species ''Minotaurasaurus ramachandrani''. * Parsons and Parsons described the new genus and species ''Tatankacephalus cooneyorum''. * Victoria Arbour, Arbour and others resurrect the genus and species ''

'' Parks, 1924

2010s

2011 in paleontology, 2011 * Burns and Sullivan described the new genus and species ''Ahshislepelta minor''. * Burns and others describe new juvenile specimens of ''

'' * Stanford, Weishampel, and DeLeon described the new genus and species ''Propanoplosaurus marylandicus''.

2013 in paleontology, 2013 * Chen and others described the new genus and species ''Dongyangopelta yangyanensis''. * Kirkland and others described the new genus and species ''Europelta carbonensis''. * Penkalski described the new genus and species ''Oohkotokia horneri''. * Yang and others described the new genus and species ''Taohelong jinchengensis''. 2014 in paleontology, 2014 * Han and others described the new genus and species ''Chuanqilong chaoyangensis''. *Arbour and Currie described the new genus ''

''. * Victoria M. Arbour, Philip J. Currie, and Demchig Badamgarav described the new genus and species ''Zaraapelta nomadis''. * Arbour and others described the new genus and species ''Ziapelta sanjuanensis''. 2015 in paleontology, 2015 * Blows described the new genus '' Horshamosaurus''. * Leahey and others described the new genus and species ''Kunbarrasaurus ieversi''. * Burns and others describe juvenile material from ''

'' collected during the Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition in 1969–1970 2017 in paleontology, 2017 * Arbour and Evans describe a new ankylosaur, ''Zuul crurivastator'' * Brown and others described the new genus and species ''Borealopelta markmitchelli''. * Penkalski and Tumanova described the new species ''Tarchia teresae''. Jinyunpelta_NT

2018 in paleontology, 2018 * Penkalski described the new species ''Scolosaurus thronus'' and ''Anodontosaurus inceptus'' and the new

'' Platypelta''. * Zheng and others name the new genus and species ''Jinyunpelta sinensis''. * Rivera-Sylva and others described the new genus and species ''Acantholipan gonzalezi''. * Wiersma and Irmis described the new genus and species ''Akainacephalus johnsoni''. * McDonald and Wolfe described the new genus and species ''Invictarx zephyri''. 2019 in paleontology, 2019 * Plates of an armored dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic (Sinemurian-Pliensbachian) Lower Kota Formation (India) are redescribed by Peter Galton, Galton (2019), who considers these fossils to be more similar to plates of ankylosaurians than Basal (phylogenetics), basal thyreophorans, and interprets them as the earliest ankylosaurian fossils reported so far. * Description of an assemblage of 12 partial, articulated or associated ankylosaurian skeletons and thousands of isolated bones and teeth from the Cretaceous (Santonian) Iharkút vertebrate locality (Hungary) was published by Ősi ''et al.'' (2019). * A study on the evolution of morphological traits associated with tail weaponry in ankylosaurs and glyptodonts, aiming to quantitatively test the hypothesis that tail weaponry of these groups is an example of convergent evolution, is published by Victoria Arbour, Arbour & Zanno (2019). * A study on the taphonomy and histology of the ornithischian (ankylosaurian and ornithopod) fossils from the La Cantalera-1 site (Lower Cretaceous Blesa Formation, Spain) is published by Perales-Gogenola ''et al.'' (2019).

2020s

2020 in paleontology, 2020 * An isolated caudal vertebra representing the first evidence of the presence of an ankylosaur in the Upper Jurassic Qigu Formation (China) is described by Augustin ''et al.'' (2020). * A study aiming to determine the social lifestyle of ankylosaurs, as indicated by anatomy, taphonomic history, ontogenetic composition of the mass death assemblages and inferred habitat characteristics, is published by Botfalvai, Prondvai & Ősi (2020). * Redescription of the anatomy of the holotype specimens of ''

armatus'' and ''

foxii'', and a study on the taxonomy of all ankylosaur specimens from the British Wealden Group, Wealden Supergroup, is published by Raven ''et al.'' (2020). * Fossil stomach contents preserved within the abdominal cavity of the holotype specimen of '' Borealopelta markmitchelli'' are described by Brown ''et al.'' (2020). * Description of the anatomy of braincases of three specimens of ''

archibaldi'' is published by Kuzmin ''et al.'' (2020). * Wang et al. (2020) describe the new genus and species of ankylosaur, '' Sinankylosaurus''.

Footnotes

References

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External links

* {{Portal bar, Dinosaurs, Paleontology, History of science, Cretaceous, Mesozoic Ankylosaurs Timelines of ornithischian research, Ankylosaur