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Postcrania of juvenile Pinacosaurus grangeri (Ornithischia: Ankylosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Alagteeg Formation, Alag Teeg, Mongolia: implications for ontogenetic allometry in ankylosaurs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2015

Michael E. Burns ,
Tatiana A. Tumanova  and
Philip J. Currie
Michael E. Burns
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 11455 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9, 〈[email protected]〉, 〈[email protected]〉
Tatiana A. Tumanova
Affiliation:
Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya ul. 123, Moscow, 117997 Russia, 〈[email protected]〉
Philip J. Currie
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 11455 Saskatchewan Drive, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E9, 〈[email protected]〉, 〈[email protected]〉
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Abstract

The ankylosaurine Pinacosaurus is one of the best known ankylosaur to date in terms of the number and preservational quality of specimens. Juvenile to sub-adult postcrania collected by the Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition from the Upper Cretaceous Alagteeg Formation at Alag Teeg, Mongolia can be assigned to Pinacosaurus grangeri based on discrete cranial characters. One individual is significantly larger than the others and demonstrates delayed fusion of postcranial elements with the earliest occurring between dorsal ribs and vertebrae. The robustness of forelimb elements is positively allometric with respect to their length, indicating weight-bearing relationship. Such length-dependent correlations are not seen in the hind limbs. Finally, incipient cervical half rings suggest a developmental pathway of outgrowths from the underlying band combined with fusion of overlying osteoderms.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 89 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 168 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © 2015, The Paleontological Society 

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