Thyreophora

Figure 1. Evolution of macroecological traits in Dinosauria. Large scale event in dinosaur evolution (a); the origin of dinosaurs (star), hyperthermals (volcano), the earliest fossil Avialae (bird), the earliest fossil angiosperm (flower), the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction (asteroid). Phylogeny of dinosaurs (b) redrawn from Sereno and adapted to the current consensus and upon which an ancestral state reconstruction of temperature niche (mean annual temperature) after Chiarenza et al. is plotted; Mesozoic palaeogeographies (c) for Triassic (T), Jurassic (J) and Cretaceous (K). Silhouette colours symbolize body mass for each of the taxa represented; information on dietary habits are plotted after Barrett and Zanno & Makovicky; numbers represent clades discussed through this study: 1, Ornithischia; 2, Thyreophora; 3, Ornithopoda; 4, Hadrosauroidea; 5, Marginocephalia; 6, Ceratopsia; 7, Saurischia; 8, Sauropodomorpha; 9, Sauropoda; 10, Theropoda; 11, Ceratosauria; 12, Tetanurae; 13, Coelurosauria; 14, Maniraptoriformes; 15, Maniraptora; 16, Deinonychosauria; 17, Avialae; 18, Ornithothoraces. Palaeogeographies modified from original plots via R package ‘mapast’ using plate models by Scotese.

Locality map for Australian eurypodan thyreophoran fossils. 1, Stegosaurian? footprint (QM F5701), Walloon Coal Measures, Balgowan Colliery, Balgowan (Bajocian–Bathonian); 2, Minmi paravertebra holotype (QM F10329) (Molnar, 1980), Minmi Member, Bungil Formation (Valanginian–Barremian); 3, Thyreophoran trackways, Broome Sandstone, Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia (Valanginian–Barremian); 4, Ankylosauria indet. (see Barrett et al., 2010) ‘Flat Rocks’ Wonthaggi Formation (upper Hauterivian–Albian); 5, NMV P216739, ‘Lake Copco–Dinosaur Cove’ Eumeralla Formation (middle upper Aptian to lower middle Albian) (Barrett et al., 2010); 6, QM F33286; 7, AM F119849 and AM F35259; 8, Kunbarrasaurus ieversi gen. et sp. nov. (formerly Minmi sp.) (QM F18101); 9, QM F33565 and QM F33566; 10, QM F44324-28. Legend: Dark Green, Toolebuc Formation (late middle–early late Albian); Green, Allaru Formation (upper Albian–(?)lower Cenomanian); Light green, Mackunda Formation (upper Albian–lower Cenomanian); Lightest green, Winton Formation (late Albian–early Turonian).

Skeletal mount of the early thyreophoran Scutellosaurus with a full set of osteoderms on display at a temporary exhibit in the Fernbank Museum

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