Pinacosaurus
Pinacosaurus ("plank lizard") is a genus of medium-sized ankylosaur dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia and China. It lived about 80–75 million years ago, and was first found in 1923.[1]
| Pinacosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous, 80–75 mya
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| P. mephistocephalus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Unrecognized taxon (fix): | Pinacosaurus |
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Pinacosaurus had between two and five additional holes near each nostril, which have not been explained.
The animal was a medium-sized ankylosaur, about five metres long, weighing up to two tonnes. Its body was flat and low-slung but not as heavily built as in some other ankylosaurs.
Its head was protected by bone tiles, hence the name. A smooth beak bit off low-growing plants that were sliced up by rows of small teeth and then swallowed. Food was slowly processed by its enormous hind gut. Neck, back and tail were protected by osteoderms. The animal could also actively defend itself with its tail club.[2]
Pinacosaurus Media
Holotype skull of P. grangeri
Holotype specimen of P. mephistocephalus
Size compared to an average human male
The skull of a juvenile Pinacosaurus grangeri on the left, compared with those of Anodontosaurus lambei
Life restoration of P. grangeri
Restoration of P. grangeri
Snout morphology and diet of Mongolian ankylosaurids; P. grangeri in left
Mass-mortality juveniles from Bayan Mandahu, showing quarry map
Pinacosaurus larynx
Map of Mongolia showing where Pinacosaurus fossils have been found
References
- ↑ Gilmore C.W. 1933. Two new dinosaurian reptiles from Mongolia with notes on some fragmentary specimens. American Museum Novitates 679: 1–20.
- ↑ Hill R.V; Witmer L.W. & Norell M.A. 2003. A new specimen of Pinacosaurus grangeri (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia: ontogeny and phylogeny of Ankylosaurs. American Museum Novitates 3395: 1–29.