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.