Denversaurus
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Denversaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 68–66 Ma |
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| Skeleton casts of Denversaurus ("Tank") and Tyrannosaurus, Houston Museum of Natural Science | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Family: | †Nodosauridae |
| Genus: |
†Denversaurus Bakker, 1988 |
| Type species | |
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†Denversaurus schlessmani Bakker, 1988 |
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Denversaurus (meaning "Denver lizard") is a genus of herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) of western North America. Although treated as a junior synonym of Edmontonia by some workers, subsequent research indicates that it is a distinct nodosaurid genus.
In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated the length of Denversaurus at six meters, its weight at three tonnes.
Bakker considered Denversaurus distinct from Edmontonia and Chassternbergia in having a skull wide at the rear, with a more rearward position of the eye sockets. The holotype skull has a length of 496 millimetres and a rear width of 346 millimetres. In the referred specimen AMNH 3076 these proportions are less extreme, measuring 395 by 220 millimetre. According to Carpenter, the greater width was due to crushing.
The study by Burns concluded that Denversaurus was different from Edmontonia but similar to Panoplosaurus in having inflated, convex, cranial sculpturing with visible sulci, or troughs, between individual top skull armour elements, but is distinct from Panoplosaurus in having a relatively wider snout.
In 1922, Philip Reinheimer, a collector and technician employed by the Colorado Museum of Natural History, the predecessor of the present Denver Museum of Nature and Science, near the Dwito or Twito Ranch in Corson County, South Dakota discovered the fossil of an ankylosaurian. In 1943, Barnum Brown referred the find to Edmontonia longiceps.
In 1988, Robert Thomas Bakker decided to split the genus Edmontonia. The species Edmontonia rugosidens he made into a separate genus Chassternbergia and the Denver fossil was named and described as a new genus and species. The type species of this genus was Denversaurus schlessmani. The generic name referred to the Denver Museum of Natural History at Denver, Colorado. The specific name honoured Lee E. Schlessman, a major benefactor of the museum and the founder of the Schlessman Family Foundation.
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