Ankylosaurinae is a subfamily of
ankylosaurid dinosaurs, existing from the
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous (geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous ( chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pr ...
about 105 million years ago until the end of the
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
, about 66 mya. Many genera are included in the
clade, such as ''
Ankylosaurus'', ''
Pinacosaurus'', ''
Euoplocephalus'', and ''
Saichania''.
Features
Ankylosaurines are defined as being closer relatives to ''
Ankylosaurus'' than to ''
Shamosaurus''.
Diagnostic features of ankylosaurines include the nuchal shelf that obscures the occiput in dorsal view, and the quadrate condyle which is obscured lightly by the
quadratojugal boss The quadratojugal is a skull bone present in many vertebrates, including some living reptiles and amphibians.
Anatomy and function
In animals with a quadratojugal bone, it is typically found connected to the jugal (cheek) bone from the front a ...
.
Phylogeny
The following
cladogram
A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...
is based on the 50% majority rule
phylogenetic analysis of Arbour & Currie (2015):
References
Ankylosaurids
Cretaceous dinosaurs
{{ankylosaurian stub