Reclassification of ankylosaurs with ambiguous taxonomy using tooth morphometrics

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dc.contributor.authorCross, Emily G.
dc.contributor.authorFraass, Andrew J.
dc.contributor.authorGates, Terry A.
dc.contributor.authorArbour, Victoria M.
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-16T21:51:11Z
dc.date.available2026-06-16T21:51:11Z
dc.date.issued2026
dc.description.abstractNew morphometric methods of analysis of phylliform ornithischian teeth provide the opportunity to study clade associations of ankylosaurs of ambiguous taxonomy that include dental material. With recent extensive sampling of ex situ/in situ dentition of ankylosaurs, we present new dental characters for phylogenetic analyses of Thyreophora that we use in seven phylogenetic analyses of both parsimony and Bayesian methods. Our analyses do not recover the previously proposed clades of Panoplosauridae, Polacanthidae, and Struthiosauridae. Prior dental characters that have been used as unambiguous synapomorphies to define Struthiosauridae suffered from vague descriptions that are not accurate portrayals of ankylosaur tooth morphology; therefore, these characters are not useful for thyreophoran phylogenetic analyses. Our phylogenetic analysis results suggest a large degree of homoplasy and support the need for a systematic revision of Nodosauridae. Tooth morphometrics supplement the placement of taxa in phylogenetic analyses and allow clade-level classification of taxa solely or primarily based upon tooth material. We identify clade associations of enigmatic ankylosaur taxa, such as Peloroplites with Panoplosauridae, Aletopelta with Nodosauridae/Panoplosauridae, and Priconodon with Nodosauridae, through a combination of morphometrics and phylogenetics, with implications for palaeobiogeography.
dc.description.reviewstatusReviewed
dc.description.scholarlevelFaculty
dc.description.sponsorshipFunding for this project was provided by a Dinosaur Research Institute Student Research Grant and a Canadian Museum of Nature Visiting Student Grant to EGC. VMA is funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2020-04012) and Discovery Launch Supplement (DGECR-2020-00149).
dc.identifier.citationCross, E. G., Fraass, A. J., Gates, T. A., & Arbour, V. M. (2026). Reclassification of ankylosaurs with ambiguous taxonomy using tooth morphometrics. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 206(4). https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlag068
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlag068
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/23994
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherZoological Journal of the Linnean Society
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.subjectmorphometrics
dc.subjectphylogenetics
dc.subjectDinosauria
dc.subject.departmentSchool of Earth and Ocean Sciences
dc.titleReclassification of ankylosaurs with ambiguous taxonomy using tooth morphometrics
dc.typeArticle

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