Euoplocephalus

Name: Euoplocephalus ‭(‬Well armoured head‭)‬. Phonetic: Yu-oh-plo-seff-ah-lus. Named By: Lawrence Lambe‭ ‬-‭ ‬1910. Synonyms: Anodontosaurus,‭ ‬Scolosaurus. Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ ‬Thyreophoroidea,‭ ‬Ankylosauria,‭ ‬Ankylosauridae,‭ ‬Ankylosaurinae. Species: E.‭ ‬tutus‭ (‬type‭)‬. Diet: Herbivore. Size: 6‭ ‬meters long. Known locations: Canada,‭ ‬Alberta‭ ‬-‭ ‬Dinosaur Park‭ & ‬Horseshoe Canyon Formation.‭ ‬USA,‭ ‬Montana‭ ‬-‭ ‬Judith River Formation. Time period: Campanian to Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous. Fossil representation: Multiple specimens.

Whereas  Ankylosaurus  is the most famous ankylosaurid dinosaur,‭ ‬Euoplocephalus is one of the most important because of the huge number of remains that have been attributed to the genus.‭ ‬These include remains of over forty individual Euoplocephalus,‭ ‬comprising fifteen known skulls and some post cranial skeletons that are almost complete.‭ ‬This wealth of material has not only helped to increase our understanding of Euoplocephalus and the Ankylosauridae as a group,‭ ‬but has also revealed avenues of research that were not previously considered by palaeontologists. The skull is probably the single most studied area of Euoplocephalus,‭ ‬and is wider than it‭ ‬is‭ ‬long in form.‭ ‬This gives Euoplocephalus a very broad cropping mouth similar to other ankylosaurids,‭ ‬but different to the nodasaurids like  Edmontonia  and  Nodosaurus  which had narrow mouths.‭ ‬This meant that Euoplocephalus was a more generalist browser of low vegetation,‭ ‬and possibly had a more advanced or larger digestive system to cope with digesting a greater variety of plants.‭ ‬The teeth inside the mouth of Euoplocephalus are small,‭ ‬and like other ankylosaurids are more suitable for chopping Along with a presence of a hard palate that would allow Euoplocephalus to breathe while it had food in its mouth,‭ ‬it probably spent some time processing food with up and down movements of its mouth before swallowing.‭ ‬This processing in itself would allow ankylosaurids like Euoplocephalus to‭ ‬obtain more nutrition from their food regardless of if they had a more developed digestive system.