Ankylosaurids in Detail
Known as the “fused lizards”, the ankylosaurids are one of three families of ankylosaurs, the two others being nodosaurids and the polacanthids. The ankylosaurids are the ones with the solid bone club at the end of their tail along with two rows of neck armour. Ankylosaurus is perhaps the best-known ankylosaur to most people but it is the least known scientifically. Out of the three discovered only one has been described in any detail. The animal was described by Barnum Brown in 1908. Euoplocephalus is the best known scientifically with even two specimens that have been discovered with there armour preserved in life position. This allows for accurate reconstruction of the animal. During the Campanian in Asia and North America the ankylosaurids were the most diversified. It is a mystery why they did not migrate southward as the nodosaurids did. Therefore, a barrier must have existed in which the nodosaurids could overcome, but the ankylosaurids could not.
Euoplocephalus