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GRADE 10 ARMORED DINOSAUR EDMONTONIA TOOTH Two Medicine Formation - West Montana, U.S.A. LATE CRETACEOUS PERIOD: 80 - 74 million years ago This is the finest grade complete fossil tooth from the large armored nodosaurid dinosaur Edmontonia rugosidens found in the Two Medicine Formation, U.S.A.. It is a complete and beautifully colored example with no damage. An important specimen if collecting the lineage of armored dinosaurs as Edmontonia was one of the largest and last of the nodosaurids. Not usually offered for sale as much as many other dinosaur teeth and fossils. This premium specimen is in immaculate condition and has NO REPAIR AND NO RESTORATION. Edmontonia rugosidens was about 20 feet in length and weighed as much as 4 tons. Edmontonia was a nodosaurid so it lacked a tail club. This armored dinosaur was very heavy in build with a low, long and wide skull as well as a frightening array of long, robust spikes projecting from its shoulders and running down both sides, in diminishing proportions, to its tail.
There were two sub-groups of the ankylosaurs. First the NODOSAURIDS appeared in the Middle Jurassic and survived into the Cretaceous. By the Early Cretaceous, the ANKYLOSAURIDS emerged and existed all the way to the end . The most notable difference between the two is that nodosaurs lacked horns on their head and a tail club while akylosaurs possessed both. Ankylosaurs include several different species spanning many world regions. Sizes range from 8 feet on up to 33 feet in length and weighing up to 2 tons. They all walked on four feet and were very slow in their locomotion. Ankylosaurs were herbivorous, ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs. They had toothless beaks and small leaf-shaped teeth that lined the sides of their jaws. The
most dominant characteristic of ankylosaurs is the presence of extensive
bony armor plating. Normally moveable portions of the skeleton
found in other dinosaurs were fused in ankylosaurs. Most
remarkable is the multiple layers of bone armor that covered the skull.
Even the eyelids of ankylosaurs were bone! With such an
impregnable design to the skull, it is likely that an ankylosaur could
have survived any attack to its head region. The most famous part of anatomy of the ankylosaurids is their heavy tail club made up of several heavy fused bones. Massive muscles and tendons provided strength and power to the wielding of this defensive mechanism against large therapods such as Tyrannosaurus rex. Without a tail club, the probable defense of nodosaurids was to hunker down and wait out an attack like a turtle, relying rather, on its spikes and armor for protection. Articulated ankylosaur remains are rarely found. Most ankylosaur fossils collected are isolated teeth and pieces of their bony armor. Ankylosaur remains have been found in North America, Europe, Australia, Antarctica, and Mongolia. FINEST INTACT COMPLETE SPECIMEN - EXCELLENT FOR REFERENCE OR THE MOST DEMANDING COLLECTION! .5" long SOLD DT10-002 INCLUDES DISPLAY BOX Actual Item - One Only |
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The
skeletal and armor design of an ANKYLOSAUR makes them the "walking
tanks" of prehistory. With an array of armor plates, knobs,
spikes, scales, multiple bone layers and in some, a tail club,
ankylosaurs relied on protection rather than speed to avoid falling
victim to the top predators of their time. 