TY - JOUR
T1 - The postcranial skeleton of an exceptionally complete individual of the plated dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A.
AU - Maidment, Susannah
AU - Brassey, Charlotte
AU - Barrett, Paul
N1 - Published gold open access. Copyright: © 2015 Maidment et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation: Maidment SCR, Brassey C, Barrett PM (2015) The Postcranial Skeleton of an Exceptionally Complete Individual of the Plated Dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A. PLoS ONE 10(10): e0138352. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138352
PY - 2015/10/14
Y1 - 2015/10/14
N2 - Although Stegosaurus is one of the most iconic dinosaurs, well-preserved fossils are rare and as a consequence there is still much that remains unknown about the taxon. A new, exceptionally complete individual affords the opportunity to describe the anatomy of Stegosaurus in detail for the first time in over a century, and enables additional comparisons with other stegosaurian dinosaurs. The new specimen is from the Red Canyon Ranch Quarry, near Shell Wyoming, and appears to have been so well preserved because it was buried rapidly in a pond or body of standing water immediately after death. The quarry is probably located in the middle part of the Morrison Formation, which is believed to be Tithonian in age in this area. The specimen is referable to Stegosaurus stenops based on the possession of an edentulous anterior portion of the dentary and elevated postzygapophyses on the cervical vertebrae. New information provided by the specimen concerns the morphology of the vertebrae, the iliosacral block and dermal armor. Several aspects of its morphology indicate the individual was not fully skeletally mature at the time of death, corroborating a previous histological study.
AB - Although Stegosaurus is one of the most iconic dinosaurs, well-preserved fossils are rare and as a consequence there is still much that remains unknown about the taxon. A new, exceptionally complete individual affords the opportunity to describe the anatomy of Stegosaurus in detail for the first time in over a century, and enables additional comparisons with other stegosaurian dinosaurs. The new specimen is from the Red Canyon Ranch Quarry, near Shell Wyoming, and appears to have been so well preserved because it was buried rapidly in a pond or body of standing water immediately after death. The quarry is probably located in the middle part of the Morrison Formation, which is believed to be Tithonian in age in this area. The specimen is referable to Stegosaurus stenops based on the possession of an edentulous anterior portion of the dentary and elevated postzygapophyses on the cervical vertebrae. New information provided by the specimen concerns the morphology of the vertebrae, the iliosacral block and dermal armor. Several aspects of its morphology indicate the individual was not fully skeletally mature at the time of death, corroborating a previous histological study.
U2 - 10.1371/ journal.pone.0138352
DO - 10.1371/ journal.pone.0138352
M3 - Article
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 107
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 10
ER -