Rugocaudia

Name: Rugocaudia (Wrinkle tail).
Phonetic: Roo-go-caw-dee-ah.
Named By: Cary Woodruff - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Sauropoda, Titanosauriformes.
Species: R. cooneyi (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Uncertain due to incomplete remains.
Known locations: USA, Montana - Cloverly Formation.
Time period: Aptian to Albian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: 18 caudal (tail) vertebrae, vertebral arch, neural arch, tooth and metacarpal.

       Due to the incomplete remains not a lot is known about this dinosaur other than it is probably a basal titanosauriform. The genus name is a reference to the appearance of the tail vertebrae while the species name of R. cooneyi is in honour of J. P. Cooney who owned the land where the fossils were found.
       Other dinosaurs that possibly shared the same habitat as Rugocaudia were the nodosaur Sauropelta, the ornithopod Tenontosaurus and the dromaeosaur Deinonychus.

Further reading
- A new titanosauriform from the Early Cretaceous Cloverly Formation of Montana. - Cretaceous Research 36:58-66. - D. C. Woodruff - 2012.



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