Propanoplosaurus
From Latin prefix 'pro-' (before) combined with the genus name Panoplosaurus, meaning 'before Panoplosaurus', reflecting that it lived earlier than but resembled Panoplosaurus.
Early Cretaceous stages
Propanoplosaurus is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Patuxent Formation of Maryland, USA. Its type specimen is a natural cast and partial natural mold of a hatchling.
Diagnosis
- Relatively narrow rostrum compared to Panoplosaurus mirus
- Large, well-delimited, rostrally-placed triangular ornamentation on dorsum of skull
- Shorter skull roof with more caudally-placed frontoparietal-midline intersection
- Large but undifferentiated circumorbital ornamentation
Species
Propanoplosaurus marylandicus Stanford et al., 2011
Type species
Named for Maryland, the U.S. state where the holotype was found in the Patuxent Formation, with the Latin suffix '-icus' meaning 'of' or 'from'.
- Holotype
- USNM 540686 , National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
- Material
- Dorsal surface of the head and ventral surface of the body of a neonatal nodosaurid preserved as impressions and natural casts. 130 mm long specimen with impressions of skull roof, radius, ulna, and manus; vertebral column and ribs preserved as casts.
- Horizon
- Patuxent Formation, Aptian, Early Cretaceous , 121.4–113.2 million years ago
- Locality
- Prince George's County, Maryland, United States
References
- Stanford, R.; Weishampel, D. B.; Deleon, V. B. (2011). The First Hatchling Dinosaur Reported from the Eastern United States: Propanoplosaurus marylandicus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Early Cretaceous of Maryland, U.S.A. Journal of Paleontology 85(5): 916-924. Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1666/10-113.1 stanford2011a
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Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.
Source of the appearance features.
jones2026a