[dinosaur] Talarurus (Ankylosauridae), additional skulls from Mongolia

Ben Creisler
[email protected]

A new paper:

Jin-Young Park, Yuong-Nam Lee, Philip J. Currie, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Eva
Koppelhus, Rinchen Barsbold, Octávio Mateus, Sungjin Lee & Su-Hwan Kim
(2019)
Additional skulls of Talarurus plicatospineus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauridae)
and implications for paleobiogeography and paleoecology of armored
dinosaurs.
Cretaceous Research 104340 (advance online publication)
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1016_j.cretres.2019.104340&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=Q-aqjP4-dxohkTpYsWEXwaKXaymXZ_Dd6DcXGkEddf8&s=WY09rrLdkSoLJhZ8dHToCwGHkJOVnsu0Dq_FVd2KqPA&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S0195667119303428&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=Q-aqjP4-dxohkTpYsWEXwaKXaymXZ_Dd6DcXGkEddf8&s=QeALHf1FNKlwdsOBZVEmy695QcGB6_VeDEBHlWOnS38&e= 


Highlights

Three new specimens of Talarurus provide new anatomical information about
this taxon.
A dispersal event of ankylosaurines from Asia to western North America
occurred before the Cenomanian.
Differences of muzzle shape between Talarurus and Tsagantegia suggest a
possible niche partitioning among these taxa.

Abstract

Three new additional skull specimens of Talarurus plicatospineus have been
recovered from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Santonian) Bayanshiree
Formation, of Bayan Shiree cliffs, eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia. The
skulls feature unique characters such as an anteriorly protruded single
internarial caputegulum, around 20 flat or concave nasal-area caputegulae
surrounded by a wide sulcus, a vertically oriented elongate loreal
caputegulum with a pitted surface, an elongate lacrimal caputegulum
positioned above the posterodorsal border of the maxilla, two
longitudinally arranged large frontoparietal caputegulae surrounded by
smaller rhomboid caputegulae, small but elongate medial supraorbital
caputegulae, a posterior supraorbital caputegulum that is four times larger
than the anterior one, up to three transverse parallel grooves on the
dorsal surface of the posterior supraorbital caputegulum, postocular
caputegulae along the ventral to posterior rim of the orbit that extend
almost to the anteroventral margin of the squamosal horn, a longitudinal
furrow tapering towards the apex of the squamosal horn, a lateral nuchal
caputegulum four to five times larger than other nuchal caputegulae, and a
pterygovomerine keel with a ventral margin that is dorsally positioned to
the alveolar ridge. The phylogenetic analysis result showed that Talarurus
is sister to the clade that includes the derived Asian ankylosaurines
(Saichania chulsanensis, Tarchia kielanae, and Zaraapelta nomadis). It also
shows that there was dispersal of ankylosaurines from Asia into western
North America before the Cenomanian. Moreover, the rostral differences
between Talarurus and Tsagantegia, another ankylosaur from the same
formation, suggest possible niche partitioning between these taxa.

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