Ankylosaurinae Explained

Ankylosaurinae is a subfamily of ankylosaurid dinosaurs, existing from the Early Cretaceous about 105 million years ago until the end of the Late Cretaceous, about 66 mya. Many genera are included in the clade, such as Ankylosaurus, Pinacosaurus, Euoplocephalus, and Saichania.

Features

Ankylosaurinae is formally defined in the PhyloCode as "the largest clade containing Ankylosaurus magniventris, but not Shamosaurus scutatus".^{[1] [2] [3]} The tribe Ankylosaurini is defined in the PhyloCode as "the largest clade containing Ankylosaurus magniventris, but not Pinacosaurus grangeri and Saichania chulsanensis".^[4]

Diagnostic features of ankylosaurines include the nuchal shelf that obscures the occiput in dorsal view, and the quadrate condyle which is obscured lightly by the quadratojugal boss.

Phylogeny

The following cladogram is based on the 50% majority rule phylogenetic analysis of Arbour & Currie (2015):

Notes and References

1. Madzia. D.. Arbour. V.M.. Boyd. C.A.. Farke. A.A.. Cruzado-Caballero. P.. Evans. D.C.. 2021. The phylogenetic nomenclature of ornithischian dinosaurs. PeerJ. 9. e12362. 10.7717/peerj.12362. 34966571. 8667728 . free .
2. Book: The Dinosauria . Weishampel . David B. . Dodson . Peter . Osmólska . Halszka . 2004 . University of California Press . Berkeley, CA and Los Angeles, CA and London, England . 0-520-24209-2 . 389, 861 . April 9, 2010.
3. Xing . Lida . Niu . Kecheng . Mallon . Jordan . Miyashita . Tetsuto . 2023 . A new armored dinosaur with double cheek horns from the early Late Cretaceous of southeastern China . Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology . en . 11 . 10.18435/vamp29396 . 2292-1389. free .
4. Madzia. D.. Arbour. V.M.. Boyd. C.A.. Farke. A.A.. Cruzado-Caballero. P.. Evans. D.C.. 2021. The phylogenetic nomenclature of ornithischian dinosaurs. PeerJ. 9. e12362. 10.7717/peerj.12362. 34966571. 8667728 . free .