Polacanthus
Polacanthus was an armoured, spiked, plant-eating dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous, about 132 to 100 million years ago. Polacanthus means "many spines."
| Polacanthus Temporal range: Lower Cretaceous
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| Armour of Polacanthus foxii | |
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| Genus: | Polacanthus Owen vide Anonymous, 1865
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Some paleontologists think that Polacanthus is the same genus as Hylaeosaurus. Fossils of this ankylosaurid have been found in England.
Description
Polacanthus was about 12 feet (4 m) long and about 4.8 feet (1.5 m) tall. It was a bulky quadruped that relied on its many rows of bony spikes for protection. No head is known for this genus.
Polacanthus Media
- Polacanthus.png
Estimated size based on the holotype compared to a human
- Polcanthus material.jpg
Type specimen of Polacanthus foxii
- Polacanthus Pelvis.jpg
Pelvis of Polacanthus foxii (original illustration (top), modern photograph (middle), computer-generated image of the pelvis without the shield (bottom)
- Polacanthus skeleton.jpg
Historical P. foxii skeletal restoration by Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás
- Polacanthus foxii 33.JPG
Material at the Natural History Museum, London
- Polacanthus fossils.jpg
Tail, centrum, and scute fragments
- Polacanthus bones.jpg
PLATE 70. *Fig. 1. Posterior view of a vertebra from the front of the chestt *Fig. 2. Oblique lateral view of the same. *Fig. 3. Fragment of a large keeled scute with grooved margin and submarginal rings of tubercles. *Jc. Beginning keel. Fig. 4. Sectional view at x in fig. 3. (This and fig. 3 are slightly reduced.)