Norman, D. B. (2020) SCELIDOSAURUS HARRISONII OWEN, 1861 (DINOSAURIA: ORNITHISCHIA) FROM THE EARLY JURASSIC OF DORSET, ENGLAND: BIOLOGY AND PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. ISSN ISSN (Print) 0024-4082 - ISSN (Online) 1096-3642 (Submitted)
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Abstract
A layer of keratinous scutes encased the skull of Scelidosaurus. The neurocranium as well as the associated principal sensory systems of this dinosaur are described. The cranial musculature is reconstructed and a subsequent functional analysis suggests that jaw motion was orthal, allowing pulping of vegetation and some high-angle shearing between opposing teeth. Wishboning of the lower jaw was enabled by transverse displacement of the quadrates; and the long-axis mandibular torsion that occurred during the chewing cycle was permitted by flexibility at the dentary symphysis. Limb proportions and pectoral and pelvic musculature reconstructions suggest that Scelidosaurus was a facultative quadruped of ‘average’ locomotor ability; it retains some anatomical features indicative of a bipedal-cursorial ancestry. Hindlimb motion was oblique-to-parasagittal to accommodate the girth of the abdomen. Scelidosaurus used a combination of costal and abdominally driven aspiration. The hypothesis that respiration was an ‘evolutionary driver’ of opisthopuby in all dinosaurs is overly simplistic. A critical assessment of datasets used to analyse the systematics of ornithischians (and thyreophoran subclades) has led to a revised dataset that positions Scelidosaurus as a stem ankylosaur, rather than a stem thyreophoran. The value of phylogenetic definitions is reconsidered in the light of the new thyreophoran cladogram.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 2020AREP; IA76 |
| Subjects: | 04 - Palaeobiology |
| Divisions: | 04 - Palaeobiology 08 - Green Open Access |
| Journal or Publication Title: | Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Humbert |
| Date Deposited: | 13 May 2020 15:53 |
| Last Modified: | 13 May 2020 15:53 |
| URI: | http://eprints.esc.cam.ac.uk/id/eprint/4740 |
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