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Hungarosaurus (ankylosaur from Late Cretaceous, Europe) endocranial cast (free pdf)



From: Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

New in open-access Palaeontologia Electronica:



Attila Osi, Xabier Pereda Suberbiola, and Tamás Földes (2014)
Partial skull and endocranial cast of the ankylosaurian dinosaur
Hungarosaurus from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary: implications for
locomotion.
Palaeontologia Electronica 17.1.1A: 18 pgs
palaeo-electronica.org/content/2014/612-skull-of-hungarosaurus
http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2014/612-skull-of-hungarosaurus

A partial skull of ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian)
Csehbánya Formation in Iharkút and the endocranial cast taken from it
are described. The morphology of the exoccipital, the elongated 'neck'
region of the basioccipital, the shape of the occipital condyle, and
the different flexure of the medulla relative to the forebrain
unambiguously differentiate this specimen from the basicranium of
Struthiosaurus, so it is assigned to Hungarosaurus sp. Whereas the
endocranial cast reflects a brain generally similar to those of other
ankylosaurs, the dorsally hypertrophied cerebellum (also present is
Struthiosaurus transylvanicus) is quite unusual within the group
suggesting a more sophisticated cerebral coordination of posture and
movement, and perhaps a more cursorial locomotary habit than predicted
for other ankylosaurs.