Thursday, December 17, 2015

The Giving of December. Texasetes

  Texasetes was the first armoured nodosaurid dinosaur to be named from the Paw Paw Formation of Texas.‭ ‬However a year later a second genus of nodosaur called Pawpawsaurus was named,‭ ‬though only represented by a skull.‭ ‬There has now been suggestions that these two are the same genus,‭ ‬and if proven true,‭ ‬then the Pawpawsaurus fossil material,‭ ‬a skull,‭ ‬will become attributed to Texasetes since that genus was named first.
       Like other nodosaurs,‭ ‬Texasetes would have been a quadrupedal dinosaur protected by thick bony plates and spikes that ran across its back and sides.‭ ‬Because of this armour,‭ ‬Texasetes would have been relatively slow yet quite resilient to attack from theropod dinosaurs such as dromaeosaurs.‭ ‬In the past there has been speculation that Texasetes may actually be a very primitive ankylosaur.

No comments: