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Dacentrurine
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 (North America, Europe and Asia), Africa and South America. Their geographical origins are unclear; the earliest unequivocal stegosaurian, ''Bashanosaurus primitivus'', was found in the Bathonian Shaximiao Formation of China. Stegosaurians were armored dinosaurs (thyreophorans). Originally, they did not differ much from more primitive members of that group, being small, low-slung, running animals protected by armored scutes. An early evolutionary innovation was the development of spikes as defensive weapons. Later species, belonging to a subgroup called the Stegosauridae, became larger, and developed long hindlimbs that no longer allowed them to run. This increased the importance of active defence by the thagomizer, which could ward off even large predators because the tail was in a higher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcovasaurus
''Alcovasaurus'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous stegosaurian dinosaurs that lived in the Late Jurassic. It was found in the Morrison Formation of Natrona County, Wyoming, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. The genus contains a monotypic taxon, single species, ''Alcovasaurus longispinus'', originally assigned to the genus ''Stegosaurus''. It is likely a member of the Dacentrurinae, and has been referred to the genus ''Miragaia longicollum, Miragaia'' by some authors. Discovery and naming In July 1908, Professors William Harlow Reed and A.C. Dart of the University of Wyoming, in the Alcova Quarry in Natrona County, Wyoming, uncovered the skeleton of a stegosaurian. This would be the last major excavation of a dinosaur in which Reed was personally involved. In 1914, the find was named and described as ''Stegosaurus longispinus'' by Charles Whitney Gilmore on the basis of holotype UW 20503 (originally UW D54), a partial postcranial skeleton of an adult individual consisting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
