STL Science Center

STL Science Center

27 December 2014

Protection and Little Titanosaurs

Compilation uncredited, dinosaur illustration is the same as yesterday (Dmitry Bogdanov).
Ampelosaurus, despite being a titanosaurid, appears to have been a somewhat smaller sauropod than is often thought of when we hear the name "titanosaur." This small-ish appearance of Ampelosaurus could be an artifact of the size of the femora discovered, but considering the number and diverse amount of remains that have been discovered, this most likely simply was a smaller titanosaur. This idea is probably best exemplified in illustrations (other than in the size comparison graphic above) by Alain Beneteau's depiction of a Taracosaurus attacking an Ampelosaurus. The head of the sauropod is, in all the illustrations that I have seen, are nearly identical. There is a known braincase and partial skull that accounts for the similarity in this aspect of all the illustrations. The back of Ampelosaurus is covered in osteoderms that have also been unearthed. As far as I know there is only a single photographed osteoderm available on the internet for our viewing.

No comments:

Post a Comment