The postcranial skeleton of an exceptionally complete individual of the plated dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A.
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Maidment, SCR
Brassey, C
Barrett, PM
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Although Stegosaurus is one of the most iconic dinosaurs, well-preserved
fossils are rare and as a consequence there is still much that remains unknown
about the taxon. A new, exceptionally complete individual affords the
opportunity to describe the anatomy of Stegosaurus in detail for the first time in
over a century, and enables additional comparisons with other stegosaurian
dinosaurs. The new specimen is from the Red Canyon Ranch Quarry, near Shell
Wyoming, and appears to have been so well preserved because it was buried
rapidly in a pond or body of standing water immediately after death. The quarry
is probably located in the middle part of the Morrison Formation, which is
believed to be Tithonian in age in this area. The specimen is referable to
Stegosaurus stenops based on the possession of an edentulous anterior portion of
the dentary and elevated postzygapophyses on the cervical vertebrae. New
information provided by the specimen concerns the morphology of the
vertebrae, the iliosacral block and dermal armor. Several aspects of its
morphology indicate the individual was not fully skeletally mature at the time of
death, corroborating a previous histological study.
fossils are rare and as a consequence there is still much that remains unknown
about the taxon. A new, exceptionally complete individual affords the
opportunity to describe the anatomy of Stegosaurus in detail for the first time in
over a century, and enables additional comparisons with other stegosaurian
dinosaurs. The new specimen is from the Red Canyon Ranch Quarry, near Shell
Wyoming, and appears to have been so well preserved because it was buried
rapidly in a pond or body of standing water immediately after death. The quarry
is probably located in the middle part of the Morrison Formation, which is
believed to be Tithonian in age in this area. The specimen is referable to
Stegosaurus stenops based on the possession of an edentulous anterior portion of
the dentary and elevated postzygapophyses on the cervical vertebrae. New
information provided by the specimen concerns the morphology of the
vertebrae, the iliosacral block and dermal armor. Several aspects of its
morphology indicate the individual was not fully skeletally mature at the time of
death, corroborating a previous histological study.
Date Issued
2015-10-14
Date Acceptance
2015-09-15
Citation
PLOS One, 2015, 10 (10)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Journal / Book Title
PLOS One
Volume
10
Issue
10
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Maidment et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e0138352