Жоғарғы Бор кезеңінің жойылған динозавры – Эдмонтония

Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Edmontonia is a genus of panoplosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. It is part of the Nodosauridae, a family within Ankylosauria. It is named after the Edmonton Formation (now the Horseshoe Canyon Formation in Canada), the unit of rock where it was found.

Edmontonia was bulky, broad and tank like. Its length has been estimated at about 6.6 m (22 ft). Edmontonia had small, oval ridged bony plates on its back and head and many sharp spikes along its sides. The four largest spikes jutted out from the shoulders on each side, the second of which was split into subspines in E. rugosidens specimens. Its skull had a pear like shape when viewed from above. Another similarity with Ankylosauridae is the presence of a secondary bone palate, a possible case of parallel evolution. This has been shown too for Panoplosaurus.

The large spikes were probably used between males in contests of strength to defend territory or gain mates. Edmontonia rugosidens existed in the upper section of the Dinosaur Park Formation, about 76.5–75 million years ago. It lived alongside numerous other giant herbivores, such as the hadrosaurids Gryposaurus, Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus, the ceratopsids Centrosaurus and Chasmosaurus, and ankylosaurids Scolosaurus The only large predators known from the same levels of the formation as Edmontonia are the tyrannosaurids Gorgosaurus libratus and an unnamed species of Daspletosaurus. Adult Albertosaurus was the apex predator in this environment, with intermediate niches possibly filled by juvenile albertosaurs.