Ankylosaurian dinosaur — Anodontosaurus lambei

Geologic period: Late Cretaceous — Maastrichtian

Age: Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian for the documented Smithsonian specimen.

Feeding: Herbivorous.

Locomotion: Terrestrial quadruped.

Body plan: Low-slung quadrupedal herbivore covered in osteoderms and equipped with a stiffened tail ending in a bony club.

Evidence: Tail vertebrae and club anatomy are direct evidence. How frequently the club was used in combat remains inferred.

Why it matters: The tail club provides direct evidence that ankylosaurids evolved highly specialized defensive anatomy.

Plain Language Identity: A heavily armored ankylosaurid dinosaur represented by its specialized tail-club anatomy.

What You Are Looking At: Distal tail anatomy from Anodontosaurus lambei forming part of the ankylosaurid tail weapon.

Defense Or Attack: The reinforced tail and terminal club formed a powerful defensive structure.

Ecosystem: Latest Cretaceous terrestrial environments of Alberta.

Formation: Horseshoe Canyon Formation.

Find Location: Alberta, Canada.

Preservation: Original fossil tail anatomy.

Research History: Anodontosaurus material was historically folded into Euoplocephalus before later taxonomic revision restored Anodontosaurus as a distinct genus.

Open Questions: Do not merge Anodontosaurus and Euoplocephalus simply because older museum records sometimes did.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://www.si.edu/object/nmnhpaleobiology_3342143

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title + scientific name + source scene matched; comparative chronology retained; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Anodontosaurus lambei

Evidence / representation: comparative_cast_visual

comparative_cast_visual

Cretaceous Worlds: Dinosaurs at Their Most Diverse.

Media license: CC BY-SA 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/