Stegosauria: a historical review of the body fossil record and phylogenetic relationships

Abstract

The first partial skeleton of a stegosaurian dinosaur was discovered in a brick pit in Swindon, UK in 1874. Since then, numerous stegosaurian remains have been discovered from Europe, North America, Africa and Asia, and continue to be discovered regularly. Stegosaurs are known from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous; no definitive evidence of the clade is known from younger deposits. New discoveries are improving our understanding of stegosaur biology and showing that stegosaurs were more morphologically diverse than was previously realized. A new phylogeny, which includes all valid stegosaurian taxa, largely agrees with previous studies and shows the European Dacentrurinae was sister taxon to Stegosaurus. Poor resolution at the base of Stegosauria is probably due to the fragmentary nature of many of the Chinese taxa.

Does morphological convergence imply functional similarity? A test using the evolution of quadrupedalism in ornithischian dinosaurs

“…Musculoskeletal changes were optimized onto recently published phylogenies of each lineage [6,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] and a muscle reconstruction for all taxa examined was produced. Changes in musculoskeletal anatomy were then linked to changes in muscle function inferred by plotting the lines of action onto reconstructed fore-and hind limbs.…”

“…Function was related to stance using biomechanical concepts of limb bone loading developed by Hutchinson & Gatesy [13]. Osteological changes were optimized onto the phylogenies of each lineage [6,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] as a series of discrete, qualitative characters optimized in MACCLADE [40].…”

Síntesis Del Registro Fósil De Dinosaurios Tireóforos en Gondwana

“…Dacentrurus y Stegosaurus podrían haber sobrevivido durante el Cretácico Temprano en la Península Ibérica y en China, respectivamente (Maidment et al, 2008). Otros registros en Asia y Europa están basados en restos óseos fragmentarios (Averianov et al, 2007;Maidment et al, 2008;Maidment, 2010 Loeuff et al, 2012). Está basado en la extremidad rostral de un cráneo con dientes maxilares (Galton y Coombs, 1981).…”

“…1-2). Hasta la fecha, se han definido dos estegosaurios en África: Paranthodon africanus en el Jurásico Superior de Sudáfrica (Broom, 1912) Gasparini et al, 1996;Novas, 2009;Maidment, 2010 (Leonardi, 1984), a partir de huellas de un supuesto anquilosaurio de gran tamaño (véase McCrea et al, 2001;Meyer et al, 2001).…”

Reptiles Extintos - Volumen en Homenaje a Zulma Gasparini

“…(Maidment et al, 2008). Otros registros en Asia y Europa están basados en restos óseos fragmentarios (Averianov et al, 2007;Maidment et al, 2008;Maidment, 2010 (Molnar, 1980(Molnar, , 1996. Basado en dos esqueletos, uno de ellos parcial y otro relativamente completo .…”