Open Paleo

Talarurus

Maleev, 1952 TAL-uh-ROOR-uhs /ˌtæləˈrʊərəs/

From Greek talaros, "wicker basket", combined with Greek oura, "tail" — means "basket tail" or "wicker tail", referring to the club-like tail

100.5–83.6 million years ago Cenomanian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Talarurus is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 96 million to 89 million years ago. The first remains of Talarurus were discovered in 1948 and later described by the Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev with the type species T. plicatospineus. It is known from multiple yet sparse specimens, making it one of the most well known ankylosaurines, along with Pinacosaurus. Elements from the specimens consists of various bones from the body; five skulls have been discovered and assigned to the genus, although the first two were very fragmented.

Species

Talarurus plicatospineus Maleev, 1952

Type species

From Latin 'plicatus' meaning 'folded' and 'spineus' meaning 'thorny' or 'spiny', in reference to the numerous folded, pleated osteoderms that formed the animal's armor.

Holotype
PIN 557-91 , Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences
Horizon
Bayanshiree Formation, Cenomanian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 100.5–83.6 million years ago The age of the containing rock unit; no finer age has been published.
Locality
Bayan Shiree cliffs, Dornogovi, Mongolia

Notable specimens

  • MPC-D 100/1354

    Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences Found 2007 complementary

    The most complete skull of Talarurus, an almost-complete cranium preserving the maxillary rostrum (broad, semi-rectangular beak) and caputegulae absent in the posterior-skull-roof holotype. Its endocranial region yielded inferences on hearing, gaze stabilization, and a grazer feeding method.

    Paulina-Carabajal et al. (2017)Park et al. (2019)

References

  1. Paulina-Carabajal, A.; Lee, Y. N.; Kobayashi, Y.; Lee, H. J.; Currie, P. J. (2017). Neuroanatomy of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs Tarchia teresae and Talarurus plicatospineus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia, with comments on endocranial variability among ankylosaurs. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 494: 135-146. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.030 paulina-carabajal2017a
  2. Park, J. Y.; Lee, Y. N.; Currie, P. J.; Kobayashi, Y.; Koppelhus, E.; Barsbold, R.; Mateus, O.; Lee, S.; Kim, S. H. (2019). Additional skulls of Talarurus plicatospineus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauridae) and implications for paleobiogeography and paleoecology of armored dinosaurs. Cretaceous Research 108: 104340. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104340

    Places the type section in the eastern Gobi Desert, which fixes the province for the holotype locality.

    park2019a
  3. Maleev, E. A. (1952). Noviy ankilosavr is verchnego mela Mongolii [A new ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia]. Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR 87(2): 273-276. maleev1952a
  4. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a