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Published: 2023-04-16 18:46:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 11400; Favourites: 192; Downloads: 10
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Description
The Miocene was witness to the increased diversification of the Ankylotarsiform Pachycephalosaurs, with multiple lineages become highly successful and widespread. One of the more notable families within this radiation were the Barylophosaurids. The group originated as modest forest dwelling Eurasian herbivores during the Oligocene, but successfully transitioned into more open habitats during the Miocene, often increasing in size as they did so. While basal forms remained comparatively slender browsers, the derived clade Coronatosaurinae developed into vaguely Ceratopsian-like animals well adapted for grazing. Like all Tragosaurians, they possess two pairs of well-developed squamosal horns that project from the rear of the skull. In Barylophosaurids these have evolved into an array of highly divergent shapes, being utilized for sexual display and species recognition; Khanoceratus is known to have had one pair of large branching, palmate horns that projected horizontally out to the sides, with the second pair being much smaller and facing out in front of the animal. Given their robust builds and heavy heads, Coronatosaurines were obligate quadrupeds with front feet fused into weight bearing ‘mitten hands’, similar to those of Titanosaurs. Dwelling in the tropical forested environment of Middle Miocene Thailand, K. lampangensis was a basal member of Coronatosaurinae, being a mixed feeder capable of both browsing and grazing. At up to 2 tonnes in weight, this species would have been beyond most other predators known from the Mae Moh Formation, with the exception of the robust Alioramoid Siamotyrannus. Barylophosaurids would be one of the few Ornithischian lineages to successfully adapt to the colder and drier climatic conditions of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, often living alongside the developing Alterungulates in Northern Eurasia and their diverse Ankylotarsid cousins in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. During the Last Glacial Period, large shaggy coated forms roamed the steppe tundra of Eurasia and North America, with one species surviving into the Holocene in the high arctic.Art by Sheather
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