Pleuropeltus
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Struthiosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 85–66 Ma |
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| Struthiosaurus humerus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Family: | †Nodosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Struthiosaurinae |
| Genus: |
†Struthiosaurus Bunzel, 1871 |
| Type species | |
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†Struthiosaurus austriacus Bunzel, 1871 |
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| Species | |
| Synonyms | |
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Struthiosaurus (Latin struthio = ostrich + Greek sauros = lizard) is one of the smallest known and most basal genera of nodosaurid dinosaurs, from the Late Cretaceous period (Campanian-Maastrichtian) of Austria, Romania and France in Europe. It was protected by body armour. Although estimates of its length vary, it may have been as small as 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) long.
Originally described in 1871 by Emanuel Bunzel, after remains uncovered by Eduard Suess and Ferdinand Stoliczka in 1855 from the Gute Hoffnung coal mine at Muthmannsdorf near Wiener Neustadt in Austria. Many species have been referred to Struthiosaurus, most based on very fragmentary and nondiagnostic material. Three valid species are recognized by paleontologists: S. austriacus Bunzel, 1871, based on holotype PIWU 2349/6; S. transylvanicus Nopcsa, 1915, based on BMNH R4966, a skull and partial skeleton from Romania; and S. languedocensis Garcia and Pereda-Suberbiola, 2003, based on UM2 OLV-D50 A–G CV, a partial skeleton found in 1998 in France. It is the namesake of the nodosaurid subfamily Struthiosaurinae, members of which are found only in Europe.
A number of invalid taxa have been shown to be junior synonyms of Struthiosaurus austriacus, most of them created when Harry Govier Seeley in 1881 revised the Austrian material. They include: Danubiosaurus anceps Bunzel, 1871; Crataeomus pawlowitschii Seeley, 1881; Crataeomus lepidophorus Seeley 1881; Pleuropeltis suessii Seeley, 1881; Rhadinosaurus alcimus Seeley 1881, Hoplosaurus ischyrus Seeley 1881 and Leipsanosaurus noricus Nopcsa, 1918. Another European ankylosaurid, Rhodanosaurus ludguensis Nopsca, 1929, from Campanian-Maastrichtian-age rocks of southern France, is now regarded as a nomen dubium and referred to Nodosauridae incertae sedis.
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