Re: Peloroplites

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Taylor" <rjtaylor68@comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 5:00 PM

> Hopefully this works, as my posts to the DML often appear truncated when I 
> send from my Web client (despite first ensuring that the plain-text option 
> is set).

Well, it is plain text, but plain text without line breaks, which does not 
get through to everyone. So here I send it again, with line breaks.

> Here's the abstract for the Peloroplites paper in the current JVP issue. 
> (My scanner is out of commision, so this was hastily typed in - hopefully 
> without typos!)
>
> ABSTRACT - A new large nodosaurid ankylosaur, Peloroplites cedrimontanus, 
> is described from a partial skull and postcranial skeleton found at the 
> PR-2 Quarry located at the base of the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar 
> Mountain Formation in central Utah. The specimen is about the same size as 
> the contemporary nodosaurid Sauropelta edwardsorum from the Cloverly 
> Formation of Montana, and is of an individual approximately 5-5.5 m long. 
> The skull of Peloroplites differs from that of Sauropelta in the vertical 
> orientation of the suspensorium, non-domed cranium and broad, square 
> premaxillary beak. The quarry is near and roughly at the same level as the 
> CEM Quarry that produced the holotype of the ankylosaurid Cedarpelta 
> bilbeyhallorum. The postcrania of Cederpelta is

The postcrania _is_???

> described and illustrated based on the paratype and new material. These 
> elements clearly establish that Cedarpelta is closer to Ankylosaurus than 
> to Sauropelta. As a primitive ankylosaurid, there is no a priori reason to 
> assume that the tail club was present. Based on recent finds in China, a 
> hypothesis is presented that the tail club is a derived feature in 
> non-shamosaurine (i.e., ankylosaurine) ankylosaurids.
>
> Regarding the etymology of the name, I lifted "monstrous heavy one from 
> Cedar Mountain" straight from the text, but I like the name better still 
> when considering the "armored soldier" aspect.
>
> Best,
>
> Rob Taylor
> The Theropod Archives
> http://home.comcast.net/~theropod-archives/