File:The dinosaur book - the ruling reptiles and their relatives (1945) (20956759295).jpg

Title: The dinosaur book : the ruling reptiles and their relatives
Identifier: dinosauruli13colb (find matches)
Year: 1945 (1940s)
Authors: Colbert, Edwin H. (Edwin Harris), 1905-2001; Germann, John C
Subjects: Dinosaurs; Reptiles, Fossil
Publisher: New York, N. Y. : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: IMLS / LSTA / METRO

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the skull became extraordinarily thick, so that there was a dome of solid bone above the brain, while on the nose and at the back of the head there was a fearsome ar- ray of nodes, points, and spikes. The ex- treme was reached in one of the late Creta- ceous troodonts, Pachijcephalosaurus (pak- e-SEF-a-lo-sawr-us), having a solid domed skull roof some nine inches thick. This was, indeed, the original bonehead! Stegosauria There were two groups of ornithischian dinosaurs which during the course of their development were distinguished by a "hands off" trend of evolution. These were the so-called armored dinosaurs, the walk- ing fortresses that defied their enemies by the comparative impregnability of their defense—the stegosaurs of the Jurassic and the ankylosaurs of the Cretaceous. Stegosaurus (steg-o-SAWR-us) was typical of the Jurassic pattern of dinosaurian armor. Here was a rather large ornithischian, com- pletely quadrupedal, but with the fore limbs so much smaller than the hind legs that this animal was a congenital "high- behind." From the tiny camptosaur-like head, carried rather close to the ground, the back arched in a steep curve to the high hips, and then descended again to the tip of the tail. The massive body was supported by strong legs, ending in broad padded feet. The "armor" of Stegosaurus was perhaps the most striking feature of this strange dinosaur, and it contributed much to the strange appearance of the beast. Down the middle of the back there was a series of upright, triangular plates, arranged alter- nately, while the tip of the tail bore four Stegosaurus, an armored dinosaur of the Jurassic period. Some of the earlier restorations showed this animal with the plates paired, and with six tail-spikes, but the arrangement of alternating plates with four spikes on the tail, shown here, is based upon the most recent evidence Restoration by Charles R. Knight, copyright The Chicago Natural History Museum
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