Silvisaurus
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| Silvisaurus Fossil range: Early Cretaceous |
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Silvisaurus, from the Latin silva "wood" and Greek saurus "lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the middle Cretaceous of Kansas.
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[edit] Discovery and species
The holotype was recovered by T. H. Eaton from the University of Kansas from exposures of the Dakota Formation (late Aptian-early Cenomanian) in Kansas, and consists of an incomplete skeleton with skull and sacrum. To date, Silvisaurus includes only the type species, S. condrayi.
[edit] Paleobiology
Based on these remains, the animal is estimated to have been approximately four meters in length (13 ft). Its skull measures 33 centimeters in length (13 in) and is 25 centimeters wide (10 in). The osseous secondary palate is poorly developed in Silvisaurus, the dentary includes at least twenty-five teeth, the basal tubera of the basiocciptial are bulbous, and each premaxilla holds eight to nine teeth. Besides the usual rounded and polygonal osteoderms, Silvisaurus may have also sported bony spines on its shoulders and tail.
[edit] Classification
This taxon represents a relatively primitive nodosaurid, and Vickaryous et al. (2004) have stated that "Sauropelta edwardsorum, Silvisaurus condrayi, and Pawpawsaurus campbelli form a basal polytomy nested deep to Cedarpelta."
[edit] References
- Eaton, T. H., Jr. 1960. A new armored dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Kansas. The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions: Vertebrata 8:1-24.
- Vickaryous, Maryanska, and Weishampel 2004. Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.
