- Talarurus
Taxobox
name = "Talarurus"
image_width = 200px
image_caption = Skeletal reconstruction of "Talarurus plicatospineus"
fossil_range =Late Cretaceous
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo =Dinosaur ia
ordo =Ornithischia
subordo =Thyreophora
infraordo =Ankylosauria
familia =Ankylosauridae
genus = "Talarurus"
genus_authority = Maleev, 1952
subdivision_ranks=Species
subdivision=
*"T. plicatospineus" Maleev, 1952 (type)"Talarurus" (pronEng|ˌtæləˈrʊərəs tal-uh-ROOR-us) is a
genus ofhippopotamus -sized ankylosauriddinosaur with heavy armour and a club tail. It was named byEvgeny Maleev in 1952.Age and location
"Talarurus" remains have been discovered in the southeastern parts of the
Gobi Desert inMongolia , so "Talarurus" may have lived there. Scientists assume that the habitat the "Talarurus" lived in were lowland floodplains millions of years ago because most "Talarurus" remains were found in theGobi Desert 'sBayn Shire Formation . Rocks found in and around the Bayn Shire Formation date from about 95-88 million years ago in the LateCretaceous period. To figure out the age of "Talarurus" more accurately, dinosaur remains from similar-aged rocks somewhere else are required to be compared with Bayn Shire Formation dinosaur remains. Sadly, there are only a few places in the world that show animal life on land in the early part of the LateCretaceous . Scientists conclude that "Talarurus" lived in lowland floodplains in the southeastern part of theGobi Desert inMongolia , about 98-88 million years ago in the LateCretaceous period from all the information they have gathered currently.The
genus was discovered in the 1950s by aSoviet expedition, and is now known from five or more individual specimens, including two incomplete skulls, one nearly complete skeleton, and many osteoderms. "Talarurus" (Greek "talaros" = "wicker basket" + Greek "oura" = "tail" + -"us") is presently one of the better-known ankylosaurs from Mongolia.Description
The skull of "Talarurus" measured approximately 24 centimeters in length (9.4 in) by approximately 22 centimeters wide (8.7 in), and its body length has been estimated at 4-6 meters (13-20 ft). This ankylosaurid had five toes on the forefoot (a pentadactyl manus) and four on the hind foot (tetradactyl pes). Additional diagnostic characteristics include dorsal
vertebra e with transversely broad hypapophyses andosteoderms with furrowed ornamentation.Vickaryous "et al." (2004) note the presence of two distinct
ankylosaurid clades during the Late Cretaceous, "one consisting ofNorth America ntaxa and the other restricted to Asian taxa. The oldest member of the Asian clade...is "Talarurus plicatospineus".""Talarurus" in the media
"Talarurus" had a small part in the beginning of the
Disney computer-animated film, "Dinosaur".References
*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.
*Maryanska, 1977. Ankylosauridae (Dinosauria) from Mongolia. Palaeontol. Polonica 37:85-151.
*Tumanova, T. A. 1999. Armoured dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. In: Benton, M. J., Shishkin, M. A., Unwin, D. M., and Kurochkin, E. N. The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge:517-532.
*Vickaryous, Maryanska, and Weishampel 2004. Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.External links
* [http://www.gondwanastudios.com/info/tala.htm "Talarurus", Gondwana Studios]
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