Thescelosaurus
Thescelosaurus was a medium-sized[1] plant-eating dinosaur. It lived in forests during the late Cretaceous period in North America, about 68 to 65 million years ago.
| Thescelosaurus Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Thescelosaurus at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Superorder: | |
| Order: | |
| Suborder: | |
| Infraorder: | |
| Family: | |
| Subfamily: | |
| Genus: | Thescelosaurus |
| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
One complete specimen and eight incomplete Thescelosaurus skeletons, including skin impressions, are known. They have been found in Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota in the USA, and in Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.
True Thescelosaurus remains are known definitely only from late Maastrichtian-age rocks, from Canada, Wyoming, Montana (Hell Creek), and Colorado (Laramie Formation), USA.
With the exception of birds, it was one of the last genera of dinosaurs. Its remains were found three meters from the boundary clay containing the iridium layer that marks the end of the Cretaceous.[2]
Thescelosaurus Media
Charles Gilmore's 1915 skeletal reconstruction of the T. neglectus type specimen (known remains are shaded) with head and neck after Hypsilophodon
Cast of CMN 8537, the type specimen of T. edmontonensis
Thescelosaurus with skin impressions, Museum of the Rockies specimen 979
Cast of skull and part of neck of the T. neglectus specimen "Willo" before complete preparation
Size of two Thescelosaurus species (right) compared to its relatives Parksosaurus (center) and Orodromeus (left), as well as a human
Life restoration of T. neglectus showing protofeathers
Historically posed skeletons of Thescelosaurus with head and neck reconstructed after Hypsilophodon, which was long thought a close relative, North American Museum of Ancient Life
Mount restored with modern skull and posture
T. neglectus restored with scaly skin
Right pectoral girdle and forelimb bones of "Willo" and motion at the shoulder. K and L show the theoretically possible but unlikely quadrupedal posture
References
- ↑ 2.5 and 4.0 meters (8.2 to 13.1 ft) in length on average.
- ↑ Carpenter, Kenneth; Breithaupt, Brent H. (1986). "Latest Cretaceous occurrences of nodosaurid ankylosaurs (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) in Western North America and the gradual extinction of the dinosaurs". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 6 (3): 251–257. doi:10.1080/02724634.1986.10011619.
+{{{1}}}−{{{2}}}