Panoplosaurus
Name:
Panoplosaurus
(Completely armoured lizard).
Phonetic: Pan-op-lo-sore-us.
Named By: Lawrence M. Lambe - 1919.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Ankylosauria, Nodosauridae.
Species: P. mirus (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Roughly up to about 7 meters long.
Known locations: Canada, Alberta - Dinosaur
Park Formation, Saskatchewan - Judith River Formation. USA,
Montana - Bearpaw Shale Formation, New Mexico - Ojo Alamo
Formation.
Time period: Campanian to Maastrichtian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skulls and partial post
cranial remains of several individuals.
Panoplosaurus
is one of the more famous of the North American nodosaurs,
and a
genus that lived during the later stages of the Cretaceous. Like
with other nodosaurs, Panoplosaurus would have
looked similar to an
ankylosaur, though with a few key differences. The most obvious
difference at a glance would have been the lack of a tail club;
instead the tail of Panoplosaurus would have
terminated in a tapered
point like so many other dinosaurs. Also like other nodosaurs, and
unlike ankylosaurs, the snout and mouth of Panoplosaurus
would have
been relatively narrow, possibly indicating that Panoplosaurus
was a
selective browser of low growing plants.
Like
its nodosaur relatives, Panoplosaurus would have
had heavy bony
scutes running down the back and sides of the body. These scutes,
technically known as osteoderms, would have acted like mail armour
against the teeth and claws of predatory dinosaurs. However, one of
the more common armoured choices of nodosaurs, the large shoulder
spikes seen in some other genera, were absent in Panoplosaurus.
This might suggest that the presence and arrangement of shoulder
spikes in nodosaurs may have also served a display as well as a
defensive purpose. With the absence of spikes, Panoplosaurus
seem
to have favoured the development of very large osteoderms that grew
very close together on the neck.
Further reading
- Description of a new genus and species (Panoplosaurus
mirus) of
an armoured dinosaur from the Belly River Beds of Alberta. -
Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, series
3 13:39-50. - Lawrence M. Lambe - 1919.
- A supplementary study of Panoplosaurus mirus.
- Transactions of
the Royal Society of Canada, Third Series 4: 93-102. - C.
M. Sternberg - 1921.
- Ankylosaur systematics: example using Panoplosaurus
and
Edmontonia (Ankylosauria: Nodosauridae), by
K, Carpenter.
- Dinosaur Systematics: Approaches and Perspectives. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, pp. 281-298 - K. Carpenter
& P. J. Currie (eds). - 1990.
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