Remains of an ornithischian dinosaur in a pliosaur from the Kimmeridgian of England

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Remains of an ornithischian dinosaur in a pliosaur from the Kimmeridgian of England

  • Volume / Part: 36 / 2
  • Publication Date: July 1993
  • Page(s): 357 - 360
  • Authored By: Michael A. Taylor, David B. Norman and Arthur R. I. Cruickshank

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A specimen of the Kimmeridgian pliosaur Pliosaurus brachyspondylus includes three elements which do not appear to be plesiosaurian. A pair of left and right dermal scutes are ascribed to an unidentified armoured thyreophoran ornithischian dinosaur, and a single fragment is less definitely ascribed to the same animal. It is presumed that the pliosaur had been scavenging a dinosaur corpse shortly before its own death, and that the scutes were transported inside the pliosaur's stomach. This hypothesis cannot be verified because the pliosaur skeleton was severely disarticulated before burial, and partly destroyed before collection.

Palaeontology - Volume 36 Part 2 Pages 357-360



Palaeontology - Volume 36 Part 2 Pages 357-360

Citations

TAYLOR, M. A., NORMAN, D. B., CRUICKSHANK, A. R. I. 1993. Remains of an ornithischian dinosaur in a pliosaur from the Kimmeridgian of England. Palaeontology, 36, 2, 357–360.