Anoplosaurus Temporal range: Early Cretaceous, 100 Ma |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Order: | †Ornithischia |
Family: | †Nodosauridae |
Subfamily: | †Struthiosaurinae |
Genus: | †Anoplosaurus |
Type species | |
†Anoplosaurus curtonotus Seeley, 1879 |
Anoplosaurus (meaning "unarmored or unarmed lizard") is an extinct genus of herbivorous nodosaurid dinosaur, from the late Albian-age Lower Cretaceous Cambridge Greensand of Cambridgeshire, England. It has in the past been classified with either the armored dinosaurs or the ornithopods, but current thought has been in agreement with the "armored dinosaur" interpretation, placing it in the Ankylosauria.
Harry Govier Seeley named this genus in 1879 for a disarticulated partial postcranial skeleton that had been uncovered at Reach, Cambridgeshire, composed of a left dentary fragment, numerous vertebrae from the neck, back, and sacrum, parts of the pectoral girdle, humerus fragments, part of the left femur, left tibia, foot bones, ribs, and other fragments. He regarded it as possibly juvenile, due to its small size, with a length of about five feet. The type species is Anoplosaurus curtonotus. The generic name, derived from the Greek hoplo~, a word element used in combinations, with the meaning of "armed", refers to the fact no armour plates had been discovered. The specific name is derived from Latin curtus, "short", and Greek νῶτον, noton, "back".