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Nodosaurids
Temporal range: Late Jurassic - Late Cretaceous, 155–66Ma
Gargoy.jpg
Gargoyleosaurus skeleton cast
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Ankylosauria
Family: Nodosauridae
Marsh, 1890
Subgroups
Synonyms

Acanthopholididae Nopcsa, 1902
Acanthopholidae Nopcsa, 1917
?Hylaeosauridae Nopcsa, 1902
Polacanthidae Wieland, 1911 Palaeoscincidae Nopcsa, 1918
Panoplosauridae Nopcsa, 1929
Struthiosauridae Kuhn, 1966
Edmontoniidae Bakker, 1988

The Nodosauridae is a family of ankylosaur dinosaurs, from Upper Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous strata of what are now North America, Asia, Antarctica and Europe. They are the family of ankylosaurs which do not have club-shaped tails. They often have spikes protecting their head and shoulders.

All nodosaurs, like other ankylosaurs, are medium-sized to large, heavily built quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs, with small denticulate teeth and rows of osteoderms (a type of armour) on the dorsolateral (top and sides) surfaces of the body.

Classification

Taxonomy

The following taxonomy follows Thompson et al., 2011 unless otherwise noted.

Phylogeny

The clade Nodosauridae may be defined as "all ankylosaurs closer to Panoplosaurus than to Ankylosaurus. Vickaryous et al. considered the most primitive member of the Nodosauridae to be Cedarpelta. A cladogram from a 2011 analysis is shown by Richard S. Thompson and colleagues.

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See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Nodosauridae para niños

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