Open Paleo

Ankylosaurinae

Brown, 1908 Type genus Ankylosaurus

Its genera lived 113.2–66.0 million years ago Early Cretaceous–Late Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous stages

Ankylosaurinae is a subfamily of armored ankylosaurid dinosaurs that ranged from the Early Cretaceous, roughly 105 million years ago, to the very end of the Late Cretaceous around 66 million years ago. It encompasses the derived, tail-clubbed ankylosaurids and includes such genera as Ankylosaurus, Pinacosaurus, Euoplocephalus, and Saichania, most of them known from Asia and North America. The group is delimited as the largest clade containing Ankylosaurus but excluding Shamosaurus (Madzia and colleagues, 2021). Members are distinguished by details of the back of the skull, including a nuchal shelf that hides the occiput when the skull is viewed from above and a quadrate condyle partly concealed by a bony boss on the quadratojugal.

Diagnosis

  1. Well-developed handle-and-knob tail club
  2. Numerous bulbous caputegulae (cranial osteoderms) on the skull roof
  3. Squamosal and postocular horns forming pronounced cranial projections
  4. Anteriorly facing external nares in derived members

Genera placed directly in Ankylosaurinae

  • Akainacephalus Wiersma & Irmis, 2018 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)United States
  • Ankylosaurus Brown, 1908 Maastrichtian (72.2–66.0 Ma)United States
  • Anodontosaurus Sternberg, 1929 Campanian–Maastrichtian (83.6–66.0 Ma)Canada
  • Bissektipelta Parish & Barrett, 2004 Turonian (93.9–89.8 Ma)Uzbekistan
  • Crichtonpelta Arbour & Currie, 2015 Albian–Cenomanian (113.2–93.9 Ma)China
  • Datai Xing et al., 2024 Cenomanian–Turonian (100.5–89.8 Ma)China
  • Dyoplosaurus Parks, 1924 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Eopinacosaurus Penkalski, 2026 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)China
  • Euoplocephalus Lambe, 1910 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Jinyunpelta Zheng et al., 2018 Albian–Cenomanian (113.2–93.9 Ma)China
  • Minotaurasaurus Disputed Miles & Miles, 2009 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Mongolia
  • Nodocephalosaurus Sullivan, 1999 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)United States
  • Oohkotokia Disputed Penkalski, 2013 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)United States
  • Pinacosaurus Gilmore, 1933 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Mongolia
  • Platypelta Penkalski, 2018 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Saichania Maryańska, 1977 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Mongolia
  • Scolosaurus Nopcsa, 1928 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Canada
  • Talarurus Maleev, 1952 Cenomanian–Santonian (100.5–83.6 Ma)Mongolia
  • Tarchia Maryańska, 1977 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Mongolia
  • Tianzhenosaurus Disputed Pang & Cheng, 1998 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)China
  • Tsagantegia Tumanova, 1993 Cenomanian–Santonian (100.5–83.6 Ma)Mongolia
  • Zaraapelta Arbour et al., 2014 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)Mongolia
  • Ziapelta Arbour et al., 2014 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)United States
  • Zuul Arbour & Evans, 2017 Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)United States

References

  1. Brown, B. (1908). The Ankylosauridae, a new family of armored dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 24: 187-201. American Museum of Natural History.

    Named the family Ankylosauridae, from which the subfamily name takes its authorship by coordination; Madzia and colleagues (2021) credit Ankylosaurinae to Nopcsa (1918).

    brown1908a
  2. Nopcsa, F. (1918). Leipsanosaurus n. gen. In neuer Thyreophore aus der Gosau. Földtani Közlöny 48: 324-328.

    Ranked Ankylosauridae as a subfamily, uniting Euoplocephalus, Ankylosaurus, Sarcolestes and Leipsanosaurus; Madzia and colleagues (2021) credit Ankylosaurinae to it.

    nopcsa1918a
  3. Madzia, D.; Arbour, V. M.; Boyd, C. A.; Farke, A. A.; Cruzado-Caballero, P.; Evans, D. C. (2021). The phylogenetic nomenclature of ornithischian dinosaurs. PeerJ 9: e12362. doi:10.7717/peerj.12362

    Defined Ankylosaurinae as the largest clade containing Ankylosaurus magniventris but not Shamosaurus scutatus.

    madzia2021a
  4. Arbour, V. M.; Currie, P. J. (2015). Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14(5): 385-444. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1059985

    Recovered Ankylosaurinae as the sister of Gobisaurus plus Shamosaurus, crediting the name to Nopcsa (1918) and its definition to Sereno (1998), as revised by Vickaryous and colleagues (2004).

    arbour2015a
  5. Sereno, P. C. (1998). A rationale for phylogenetic definitions, with application to the higher-level taxonomy of Dinosauria. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 210: 41-83. doi:10.1127/njgpa/210/1998/41

    Defined Ankylosaurinae as all ankylosaurs closer to Ankylosaurus than to Shamosaurus or Minmi, listing it as "Ankylosaurinae (Brown 1908) Nopcsa 1918".

    sereno1998a
  6. Vickaryous, M. K.; Maryańska, T.; Weishampel, D. B. (2004). Ankylosauria. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 363-392. University of California Press, Berkeley.

    Defined Ankylosaurinae as all ankylosaurs closer to Ankylosaurus than to Shamosaurus, modified from Sereno, and diagnosed it.

    vickaryous2004a