Abstract
The origin and early evolution of many major dinosaur groups are poorly known because specimens are rare. One of these groups, the Ankylosauria, or armour-plated dinosaurs, is best known from well-preserved specimens from the Upper Cretaceous period of Asia and North America. Here we describe a well-preserved skull of an earlier, Late Jurassic ankylosaur, which will be important in clarifying the early history of this group. The specimen, Gargoyleosaurus parkpini gen. et sp. nov., was collected from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA. Despite its geological age, the skull shows features seen in Late Cretaceous ankylosaurs, including fusion of bone armour to the surface of the skull and mandible and closure of two skull openings, the antorbital and upper temporal fenestrae. The new taxon also has characters common to the two ankylosaur families, the Ankylosauridae and Nodosauridae1,2,3,4, supporting the proposal that the Ankylosauria originated from a single ancestor2,3,4. Nevertheless, specialized characters place Gargoyleosaurus as the most primitive, or basal, member of the Ankylosauridae.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Coombs, W. & Maryanska, T. in The Dinosauria(eds Weishampel, D., Dodson, P. & Osmolska, H.) 456–483 (Univ. California Press, Berkeley, 1990).
Coombs, W. The families of the ornithischian dinosaur order Ankylosauria. Palaeontology 21, 143–170 (1978).
Norman, D. B. in Third Symp. on Mesozoic Terrest. Ecosyst., Short Papers(eds Reif, W. E. & Westphal, F.) 157–162 (Attempto, Tübingen, 1984).
Sereno, P. C. Phylogeny of the bird-hipped dinosaurs (Order Ornithischia). Nat. Geogr. Res. 2, 234–256 (1986).
Dong, S. An ankylosaur (ornithischian dinosaur) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin, China. Vert. Pal. Asiatica 10, 257–266 (1993).
Galton, P. Armoured dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Middle and Upper Jurassic of Europe. Palaeontol. Abt. A 182, 1–25 (1983).
Kirkland, J., Carpenter, K., Hupps, K., Hunt, A. & Scheetz, R. Ankylosaurs from the Morrison Formation. Mod. Geol.(in the press).
Lee, Y.-M. Anew nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Paw Paw Formation (Late Albian) of Texas. J. Vert. Paleontol. 16, 232–245 (1996).
Galton, P. The Ornithischian dinosaur Hypsilophodon from the Wealden of the Isle of Wight. Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. 25, 1–152 (1974).
Galton, P. Crania and endocranial casts from ornithopod dinosaurs of the families Dryosauridae and Hypsilophodontidae (Reptilia: Ornithischia). Geol. Palaeontol. 23, 217–239 (1989).
Pereda-Suberbiola, J. & Galton, P. M. Arevision of the cranial features of the dinosaur Struthiosaurus austriacus Bunzel (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Europe. Neues Jb. Geol. Palaeontol. Mh. 191, 173–200 (1994).
Norman, D. B. & Faiers, T. On the first partial skull of an ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Geol. Mag. 133, 299–310 (1996).
Coombs, W. An endocranial cast of Euoplocephalus (Reptilia, Ornithischa). Palaeontol. Abt. A 161, 176–182 (1978).
Kirkland, J., Carpenter, K. & Burge, D. Anodosaur with a distinct sacral shield of fused armor from the Lower Cretaceous of east-central Utah. J. Vert. Paleontol. 11 (suppl. 3), 40A (1991).
Carpenter, K., Kirkland, J., Miles, C., Cloward, K. & Burge, D. Evolutionary significance of new ankylosaurs (Dinosauria) from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous, Western Interior. J. Vert. Paleontol. 19 (suppl. 3), 25A (1996).
Carpenter, K., Kirkland, J., Burge, D. & Bird, J. in Vertebrate Fossils of Utah(ed. Gillette, D.) (Utah Geological Survey, in the press).
Acknowledgements
We thank J. Kirkland for discussions about early ankylosaurs, and D. Norman for comments on the manuscript. K.C. thanks the Western Paleontological Labs for recognizing the scientific importance of the specimen and for donating it to the Denver Museum of Natural History.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Carpenter, K., Miles, C. & Cloward, K. Skull of a Jurassic ankylosaur (Dinosauria). Nature 393, 782–783 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/31684
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/31684
This article is cited by
-
Exceptionally simple, rapidly replaced teeth in sauropod dinosaurs demonstrate a novel evolutionary strategy for herbivory in Late Jurassic ecosystems
BMC Ecology and Evolution (2021)
-
Bizarre dermal armour suggests the first African ankylosaur
Nature Ecology & Evolution (2021)
-
Robust dinosaur phylogeny?
Nature (1998)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.