Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T16:12:15.361Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A review of pelvic shield morphology in ankylosaurs (Dinosauria: Ornithischia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Victoria M. Arbour ,
Michael E. Burns  and
Philip J. Currie
Victoria M. Arbour
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Vertebrate Paleontology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada,
Michael E. Burns
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Vertebrate Paleontology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada,
Philip J. Currie
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Vertebrate Paleontology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The pelvic shield of ankylosaurian dinosaurs refers to an area of osteoderms lacking differentiated transverse bands over the pelvic region and it is used as a diagnostic character for various ankylosaur groups. The pelvic shield character varies across ankylosaur taxa but is typically coded as a binary character or is excluded from phylogenetic analyses, which obscures evolutionary trends and relationships. This study investigates for the first time pelvic shield morphology in a stratigraphic and geographic context. This paper comprehensively reviews pelvic shield morphology with firsthand observations of specimens, and proposes three categories of pelvic shield morphology. Category 1 pelvic shields have un-fused but tightly interlocking osteoderms. Category 2 pelvic shields have fused osteoderms forming rosettes and are restricted to the Late Jurassic to mid Cretaceous of North America and Europe. Category 3 pelvic shields have fused polygonal osteoderms of similar size, and are found in the mid- to Late Cretaceous of North America. Although the pelvic shield is used to characterize the Polacanthidae, an interpretation supported by this review, the validity of such a clade is dependent upon a global parsimony analysis incorporating this character. Future analyses of the Ankylosauria should incorporate a more detailed treatment of the pelvic shield to determine its diagnostic value within the group.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 2 , March 2011 , pp. 298 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arbour, V. M., Burns, M. E., and Sissons, R. L.. 2009. A redescription of the ankylosaurid dinosaur Dyoplosaurus acutosquameus Parks, 1924 (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) and a revision of the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29:1117–1135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blows, W. T. 2001. Dermal armor of the polacanthine dinosaurs, p. 363–385. In Carpenter, K. (ed.), The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.Google Scholar
Burns, M. E. 2008. Taxonomic utility of ankylosaur (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) osteoderms: Glyptodontopelta mimus Ford, 2000: a test case. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28:1102–1109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, K. 2001. Phylogenetic analysis of the Ankylosauria, p. 455–483. In Carpenter, K. (ed.), The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.Google Scholar
Carpenter, K. and Kirkland, J. I.. 1998. Review of Lower and Middle Cretaceous ankylosaurs from North America. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 14:363–385.Google Scholar
Carpenter, K., Miles, C., and Cloward, D.. 1998. Skull of a Jurassic ankylosaur (Dinosauria). Nature, 393:782–783.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coombs, W. P. Jr. and Deméré, T. A.. 1996. A Late Cretaceons nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from marine sediments of coastal California. Journal of Paleontology, 70:311–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, T. L. 2000. A review of ankylosaur osteoderms from New Mexico and a preliminary review of ankylosaur armor. New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletin, 17:157–176.Google Scholar
Ford, T. L. and Kirkland, J. I.. 2001. Carlsbad ankylosaur (Ornithischia, Ankylosauria): An ankylosaurid and not a nodosaurid, p. 239–260. In Carpenter, K. (ed.), The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.Google Scholar
Gilmore, C. W. 1914. Osteology of the armored Dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genus Stegosaurus. United States National Museum Bulletin, 89:1–136.Google Scholar
Gilmore, C. 1930. On dinosaurian reptiles from the Two Medicine Formation of Alberta. United States National Museum Proceedings, 77:1–39.Google Scholar
Godefroit, P., Pereda Suberbiola, X., Li, H., and Dong, Z.-H.. 1999. A new species of the ankylosaurid dinosaur Pinacosaurus from the Late Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia (P.R. China). Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique Sciences de la Terre, 69-Supp. B:17–36.Google Scholar
Hulke, J. W. 1887. Supplemental note on Polacanthus foxii, describing the dorsal shield and some parts of the endoskeleton, imperfectly known in 1881. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 178:169–172.Google Scholar
Huxley, T. H. 1867. On Acanthopholis horridus, a new reptile from the Chalk-Marl. Geological Magazine, 4:65–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkland, J. I. 1998. A polacanthine ankylosaur (Ornithischia: Dinosaur) from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of Eastern Utah. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 14:271–281.Google Scholar
Kirkland, J. I. and Carpenter, K.. 1994. North America's first pre-Cretaceous ankylosaur (Dinosauria) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of western Colorado. Brigham Young University Geological Studies, 40:25–42.Google Scholar
Lambe, L. M. 1910. Note on the parietal crest of Centrosaurus apertus and a proposed new generic name for Stereocephalus tutus. Ottawa Naturalist, 14:149–151.Google Scholar
Lambe, L. M. 1919. Description of a new genus and species (Panoplosaurus mirus) of armored dinosaur from the Belly River Beds of Alberta. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada series 3, 13:39–50.Google Scholar
Lapparent, A. F. and Lavocat, R.. 1955. Dinosauriens, p. 785–962. In Piveteau, (ed.), Traite de Paléontologie, Amphibiens, Reptiles, Oiseaux, Vol 5. Masson et Cie, Paris.Google Scholar
Lucas, F. A. 1902. A new generic name for Stegosaurus marshi, from the Lower Cretaceous of South Dakota. Science, 16:435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mantell, G. A. 1833. Geology of the South East of England. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman, London, 415 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, O. C. 1889. Notice of new American dinosaurs. American Journal of Science, ser. 3, 37:331–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maryańska, T. 1977. Ankylosauridae (Dinosauria) from Mongolia. Palaeontologia Polonica, 37:85–151.Google Scholar
Moodie, R. L. 1910. An armored dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Wyoming. Kansas University Science Bulletin, 14:257–273.Google Scholar
Nopsca, F. B. Von. 1928. Palaeontological notes on reptiles. Geologica Hungarica, 1:1–84.Google Scholar
Ostrom, J. H. 1970. Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Cloverly Formation (Lower Cretaceous) of the Bighorn Basin area, Wyoming and Montana. Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 35:1–234.Google Scholar
Parks, W. A. 1924. Dyoplosaurus acutosquameus, a new genus and species of armored dinosaur; and notes on a skeleton of Prosaurolophus maximus. University of Toronto Studies Geological Series, 18:1–35.Google Scholar
Pereda-Suberbiola, X., Fuentes, C., Meijide, M., Meijide-Fuentes, F., and Meijide-Fuentes, M. Jr. 2007. New remains of the ankylosaurian dinosaur Polacanthus from the Lower Cretaceous of Soria, Spain. Cretaceous Research, 28:583–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poe, S. and Wiens, J. J.. 2000. Character selection and the methodology of morphological phylogenetics, p. 20–36. In Wiens, J. J. (ed.), Phylogenetic analysis of morphological data. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Ryan, M. J. and Evans, D. C.. 2005. Ornithischian dinosaurs, p. 363–385In Currie, P. J. and Koppelhus, E. B. (eds.), Dinosaur Provincial Park: A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.Google Scholar
Salgado, L. and Gasparini, Z.. 2006. Reappraisal of an ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of James Ross Island (Antarctica). Geodiversitas, 28:119–135.Google Scholar
Scheyer, T. M., and Sander, P. M.. 2004. Histology of ankylosaur osteoderms: implications for systematics and function. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24:874–893.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, C. M. 1928. A new armored dinosaur from the Edmonton Formation of Alberta. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, series 3, 22:93–106.Google Scholar
Tumanova, T. A. 1983. [The first ankylosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia.] Trudy Sovmestnaya Sovetsko-Mongolskaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditsiya, 24:110–120. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Tumanova, T. A. 1987. [The armored dinosaurs of Mongolia.] Trudy Sovmestnaya Sovetsko-Mongolskaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditsiya, 32:1–80. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Vickaryous, M. K. and Hall, B. K.. 2006. Osteoderm morphology and development in the nine-banded armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Cingulata). Journal of Morphology, 267:1273–1283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vickaryous, M. K. and Hall, B. K.. 2008. Development of the dermal skeleton in Alligator mississippiensis (Archosauria, Crocodylia) with comments on the homology of osteoderms. Journal of Morphology, 269:398–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vickaryous, M. K., Maryańska, T., and Weishampel, D. B.. 2004. Ankylosauria, p. 363–392. In Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.), The Dinosauria, 2nd Edition. University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williston, S. W. 1905. A new armored dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Wyoming. Science, 22:503–504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed