Polacanthoides
| Polacanthoides Temporal range:
Early Cretaceous, ~ | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Thyreophora |
| Clade: | †Ankylosauria |
| Family: | †Nodosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Polacanthinae |
| Genus: | †Polacanthoides Nopcsa, 1928 |
| Type species | |
| †Polacanthoides ponderosus Nopcsa, 1928
| |
Polacanthoides (meaning like Polacanthus) is a dubious genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from the Wessex Formation of England. The type species is P. ponderosus.[1]
Discovery and naming
The holotype is NHMUK 2584 and it is a left scapula and left tibia discovered at the quarry near Bolney, West Sussex sometime between the 1820s and 1833;[2] the whereabouts of the holotype scapula could not be located by Blows (1987).[3] NHMUK 2584 was initially assigned to Hylaeosaurus by Mantell (1833),[4] and the new species Polacanthoides ponderosus was created for it by Nopsca (1928).[1]
Two more specimens were referred to P. ponderosus by Blows (1987): BMNH 2620a, a fragmentary right scapula, and BMNH 2615, a left tibia and scapula.[3] Mantell (1833) initially believed BMNH 2615 was a humerus,[4] while Lydekker (1888) assumed it was a left tibia.[5]
Classification
Polacanthoides is a member of the Polacanthinae and it has been suggested it was a chimera of skeletal elements belonging to Hylaeosaurus and Polacanthus.[6] It has also been suggested that Polacanthoides belonged to Stegosauria.[2]
See also
References
- ^ a b Nopcsa, F. (1928). Palaeontological notes on reptiles. Geologica Hungarica, Series Palaeontologica Volume 1 Part 1. Institutum Regni Hungariae Geologicum. pp. 1–84.
- ^ a b "Genus: Polacanthoides NOPCSA, 1928". Paleofile. Retrieved 5 March 2026.
- ^ a b Blows W.T. (1987). The armoured dinosaur Polacanthus foxi, from the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight, Palaeontology. 30, 557–580
- ^ a b Mantell, Gideon Algernon (1833). "Observations on the remains of the Iguanodon, and other fossil reptiles, of the strata of Tilgate Forest in Sussex". Proceedings of the Geological Society of London. 1: 410–411.
- ^ Lydekker, Richard (1888). Catalogue of the fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural history) ... By Richard Lydekker ... London: Printed by order of the Trustees.
- ^ Raven, T.J.; Barrett, P.M.; Pond, S.B.; Maidment, S.C. (2020). "Osteology and Taxonomy of British Wealden Supergroup (Berriasian–Aptian) Ankylosaurs (Ornithischia, Ankylosauria)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40 (4) e1826956. Bibcode:2020JVPal..40E6956R. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1826956.