Outline: a typical ankylosaur
Nodosaurus
NOH-doh-SORE-us
"knobbed lizard"
Type species Nodosaurus textilis
- Lived
- 101 to 90 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- estimates range from 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft)
- Group
- Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Marsh 1889
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
95 million years ago
Field notes
About Nodosaurus
What it was like
Nodosaurus was an armored plant eater between 5 and 6 meters (16 to 20 feet) long. Rows of bony knobs and plates covered its back, giving it a texture like woven cloth, which inspired the type species name, Nodosaurus textilis.
It had no tail club. It walked on four legs and probably ate low-growing plants. Its skull is not known.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous of western North America. The first and best remains come from the Frontier Formation of Wyoming, and some other bones have been linked to it.
How it was found
Marsh named Nodosaurus in 1889, and the family of armored dinosaurs called nodosaurids is named after it. Three finds are known.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Nodosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: O. C. Marsh. 1889. Notice of gigantic horned Dinosauria from the Cretaceous. American Journal of Science 38:173-175