Talarurus

Name: Talarurus ‭(‬Wicker basket tail‭)‬.
Phonetic: Tal-ah-roo-russ.
Named By: Evgeny Maleev‭ ‬-‭ ‬1952.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Onithischia,‭ ‬Thyreophora,‭ ‬Ankylosauria,‭ ‬Ankylosauridae,‭ ‬Ankylosaurinae.
Species: T.‭ ‬plicatospineus‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Estimated between‭ ‬4‭ ‬and‭ ‬6‭ ‬meters long.
Known locations: Mongolia‭ ‬-‭ ‬Bayan Shireh Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Several individuals.




       With the currently clear exception of Pinacosaurus,‭ ‬Talarurus is one of the best represented ankylosaurs from Asia.‭ ‬Talarurus was given its name because the tendons wove around the caudal‭ (‬tail‭) ‬vertebrae like a wicker basket.‭ ‬In life these would have strengthened and stiffened the tail so that the club on the end could be brought to bear with even more force.‭ ‬Analysis of the Bayan Shireh Formation concludes that Talarurus lived in a wetland environment.‭ ‬This is a stark contrast to many other ankylosaur genera which have been found in what were arid environments during the Cretaceous.‭ ‬Like other ankylosaurs however,‭ ‬Talarurus would have been a quadrupedal browser of low growing vegetation.
       Talarurus was named,‭ ‬by the famous Russian palaeontologist Evgeny Maleev,‭ ‬who during his career also named other notable dinosaur genera,‭ ‬including Tarbosaurus and Therizinosaurus.‭ ‬Maleev had a genus of ankylosaur,‭ ‬Maleevus,‭ ‬named after him in‭ ‬1987,‭ ‬and on a more trivial note,‭ ‬this ankylosaur has been found in the same fossil formation as Talarurus,‭ ‬however speculation has been raised that Maleevus may actually be based upon further remains of Talarurus.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Noviy ankilosavr is verchnego mela Mongolii‭ [‬A new ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia‭]‬,‭ ‬Evgeny Maleev‭ ‬-‭ ‬1952.
- Neuroanatomy of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs Tarchia teresae and Talarurus plicatospineus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia, with comments on endocranial variability among ankylosaurs. - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 494. - A. Paulina-Carabajal, Y. N. Lee, Y. Kobayashi, H. J. Lee & P. J. Currie - 2017.
- Additional skulls of Talarurus plicatospineus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauridae) and implications for paleobiogeography and paleoecology of armored dinosaurs. - Cretaceous Research. - Jin-Young Park, Yuong-Nam Lee, Philip J.Currie, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Eva Koppelhus, Rinchen Barsbold, Oct�vio Mateus, Sungjin Lee, Su-Hwan Kim - 2019.



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