Rhadinosaurus
| Rhadinosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Subclass: | Archosauria |
| Order: | Dinosauria |
| Suborder: | Ornithischia |
| Infraorder: | Thyreophora |
| Superfamily: | Ankylosauria |
| Family: | Nodosauridae |
| Subfamily: | ?Struthiosaurinae |
| Genus: | Rhadinosaurus Seeley, 1881 |
| Species | |
| |
Rhadinosaurus alcinus (meaning "slender lizard") is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur first described in 1881 by Harry Govier Seeley, based on remains uncovered in Austria. It was a herbivore that lived around 84.9 to 70.6 million years ago (during the Late Cretaceous period).[1]
Fossils
The type specimen consists of two humeri, two fibulae, and two dorsal vertebrae. The fibulae were originally identified as femora in the original description, but were eventually re-identified in a 2001 review of ankylosaur specimens from the Grünbach Formation.[2] In mm, the length of the femur is 238.3, with a humerus length of 187.5, scalpula of 257.9 X 88.3, a radius of 157.5, fibula length of 120.0, a tibia length of 177.5, and an ulna length of 195.0.[1] Overall, it had a body mass of 55.3 kg based on the length of the femur.
Taxonomy
Rhadinosaurus was initially classified as a dinosaur of uncertain position, and later considered an ornithosuchid as well as possible synonym of Doratodon, until Franz Baron introduced the now popular theory that classifies it as a probable synonym of Struthiosaurus.[2][3][4][5][6]
References
- 1 2 "Fossilworks: Rhadinosaurus alcimus". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
- 1 2 X. Pereda Suberbiola and P. M. Galton. 2001. Reappraisal of the nodosaurid ankylosaur Struthiosaurus austriacus Bunzel from the Upper Cretaceous Gosau Beds of Austria. In K. Carpenter (ed.), The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 173-210
- ↑ B. F. Nopcsa. 1915. Die dinosaurier der Siebenbürgischen landesteile Ungarns [Dinosaurs of the Transylvanian regions of Hungary]. Mitteilungen aus dem Jahrbuche der Kgl. Ungarischen Geologischen Reichsanstalt 23:1-24.
- ↑ B. F. Nopcsa. 1923. On the geological importance of the primitive reptilian fauna in the uppermost Cretaceous of Hungary; with a description of a new tortoise (Kallokibotion). Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 74:100-116.
- ↑ A. S. Romer. 1956. Osteology of the Reptiles, University of Chicago Press 1-772.
- ↑ Steel, R. (1973). Handbuch der Paleoherpetologie. Vol. 16: Crocodilia. Fischer-Verlag, Portland, Oregon. 116pp.
- H.G. Seeley, 1881, "The reptile fauna of the Gosau Formation preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 37(148): 620-707