Re: Dsungaripterus...

[Brian Choo <bchoo@cyllene.uwa.edu.au>]

By far the easiest way to spot a huayangosaur in a field of Kentrosaurus
without resorting to dissection is to look inside the mouth. Huayangosaurus
possesses 7 premaxillary teeth, all more advanced stegosaurians (including
Kentrosaurus) have zero.

Cheerio
Brian

>Mickey Mortimer wrote:
Well, Kentrosaurus is a stegosaurid, while  Huayangosaurus is a more basal
stegosaur.  So Kentrosaurus has derived  characters like- dorsal margins of
sacral ribs joined; prepubic process more  than 50% length of postpubic
process; femur at least 1.5 times longer than  humerus; only two rows of
dermal osteoderms.  Huayangosaurus also has  autapomorphies that
distinguish it from other stegosaurs, including  Kentrosaurus- intercostal
flanges; flared distal rib ends; pisiform and radiale  fused to carpal
block.  Similarily, Kentrosaurus has autapomorphies not  present in
Huayangosaurus, such as the greatly expanded preacetabular  process.  Other
more obvious ways Kentrosaurus differs from Huayangosaurus  are its higher
dorsal neural arches, larger acromion process, longer  postacetabular
process, unexpanded distal pubis and several pairs of elongate  caudal
spines.  The two are not especially closely related.