Cranial ornamentation in the Late Cretaceous nodosaurid ankylosaur Hungarosaurus.

ABSTRACT: Bony cranial ornamentation is developed by many groups of vertebrates, including ankylosaur dinosaurs. To date, the morphology and ontogenetic origin of ankylosaurian cranial ornamentation has primarily focused on a limited number of species from only one of the two major lineages, Ankylosauridae. For members of the sister group Nodosauridae, less is known. Here, we provide new details of the cranial anatomy of the nodosaurid Hungarosaurus from the Santonian of Europe. Based on a number of previously described and newly identified fragmentary skulls and skull elements, we recognize three different size classes of Hungarosaurus. We interpret these size classes as representing different stages of ontogeny. Cranial ornamentation is already well-developed in the earliest ontogene

SUBMITTER: Osi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7936564 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature