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| AllAboutDinosaurs.com | Nodosaurus | More Printouts |
When Nodosaurus Lived: Nodosaurus lived during the early Cretaceous period, about 113-98 million years ago.
Diet: Nodosaurus was an herbivore (a plant-eater). It ate low-lying plants, like ferns and cycads, with its leaf-shaped teeth.
Anatomy: This nodosaurid (with no tail club) ankylosaur was about 13 to 20 ft (4-6 m) long. It was an ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaur with bony dermal plates covering the top of its body. It had four short legs, five-toed feet, a short neck, and a long, clubless tail. The narrow head had a pointed snout and powerful jaws. It may have had spikes along its sides, but only incomplete fossils have been found, so this is not certain.
Name: Nodosaurus means "knobby or node lizard." It was named by paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh in 1889. The type species is N. textilis.
Fossils: Three very incomplete Nodosaurus fossils have been found in Wyoming and Kansas; no skulls have been found yet.
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