Talarurus
Name: Talarurus
(Wicker basket tail).
Phonetic: Tal-ah-roo-russ.
Named By: Evgeny Maleev - 1952.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Onithischia, Thyreophora, Ankylosauria, Ankylosauridae,
Ankylosaurinae.
Species: T. plicatospineus
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Estimated between 4 and 6 meters long.
Known locations: Mongolia - Bayan Shireh
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Several individuals.
With
the currently clear exception of Pinacosaurus,
Talarurus is one of
the best represented ankylosaurs
from Asia. Talarurus
was given its
name because the tendons wove around the caudal (tail) vertebrae
like a wicker basket. In life these would have strengthened and
stiffened the tail so that the club on the end could be brought to bear
with even more force. Analysis of the Bayan Shireh Formation
concludes that Talarurus lived in a wetland
environment. This is a
stark contrast to many other ankylosaur genera which have been found in
what were arid environments during the Cretaceous. Like other
ankylosaurs however, Talarurus would have been a
quadrupedal browser
of low growing vegetation.
Talarurus
was named, by the famous Russian palaeontologist Evgeny Maleev, who
during his career also named other notable dinosaur genera, including
Tarbosaurus
and Therizinosaurus.
Maleev had a genus of ankylosaur,
Maleevus,
named after him in 1987, and on a more trivial note,
this ankylosaur has been found in the same fossil formation as
Talarurus, however speculation has been raised
that Maleevus may
actually be based upon further remains of Talarurus.
Further reading
- Noviy ankilosavr is verchnego mela Mongolii [A new ankylosaur
from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia], Evgeny Maleev - 1952.
- Neuroanatomy of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs Tarchia teresae and
Talarurus plicatospineus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia, with
comments on endocranial variability among ankylosaurs. -
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 494. - A.
Paulina-Carabajal, Y. N. Lee, Y. Kobayashi, H. J. Lee & P. J.
Currie - 2017.
- Additional skulls of Talarurus plicatospineus
(Dinosauria:
Ankylosauridae) and implications for paleobiogeography and paleoecology
of armored dinosaurs. - Cretaceous Research. - Jin-Young Park,
Yuong-Nam Lee, Philip J.Currie, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi, Eva Koppelhus,
Rinchen Barsbold, Octávio Mateus, Sungjin Lee, Su-Hwan Kim - 2019.
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