Silvisaurus
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Silvisaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 96–93.5 Ma |
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| Skull | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Family: | †Nodosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Nodosaurinae |
| Genus: |
†Silvisaurus Eaton, 1960 |
| Species: | †S. condrayi |
| Binomial name | |
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Silvisaurus condrayi Eaton, 1960 |
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Silvisaurus, from the Latin silva "woodland" and Greek sauros "lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the middle Cretaceous of Kansas.
A fossil of the species was discovered in the fifties by rancher Warren H. Condray of Wells, KS. He notified senator Frank Carlson who directed him to the chancellor of the University of Kansas, Franklin David Murphy. Murphy sent the preparator of the paleontology of vertebrates department of the natural history museum of the university, Russell R. Camp, to investigate the matter. In July 1955 Camp, with help from Condray, recovered the skeleton of a dinosaur. It was further prepared by Camp and Glenn H. Marihugh. In 1961 the find was described and named by Theodore H. Eaton jr., also from the University of Kansas, as the type species Silvisaurus condrayi. The generic name is derived from Latin silva, "wood", in reference to the probably densely forested habitat of the animal. The specific name honours Condray. To date, Silvisaurus includes only the type species.
The holotype, KU 10296, was found in exposures of the Terracota Clay Member of the Dakota Formation (late Albian-early Cenomanian) in Kansas, and consists of an incomplete skeleton with skull. It includes the mandible, eight neck vertebrae, ten dorsal vertebrae, a sacrum of six sacral vertebrae, three tail vertebrae, a left pubis fragment, the lower end of the right femur, and a toe phalanx. Additionally disarticulated plates and spikes from the body armour were discovered. The condition of the fossil was poor as the bones had been exposed at the bottom of a dry riverbed and had been weathered and trampled by cattle. Some elements were only present as impressions or natural casts.
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