Kentrosaurus: Difference between revisions

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Changed "Ceratosaurus" ingens to the more scientifically accepted "Torvosaurus" ingens.
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=== Skull and dentition ===
Eight specimens from the skull, mandible, and teeth have been collected anand described from the Tendaguru Formation, most of them being isolated elements.<ref name=":2">Galton, P. M. (1988). [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter-Galton/publication/272152710_Skull_bones_and_endocranial_casts_of_stegosaurian_dinosaur_Kentrosaurus_Hennig_1915_from_Upper_Jurassic_of_Tanzania_East_Africa/links/554197010cf2b790436be3bf/Skull-bones-and-endocranial-casts-of-stegosaurian-dinosaur-Kentrosaurus-Hennig-1915-from-Upper-Jurassic-of-Tanzania-East-Africa.pdf Skull bones and endocranial casts of stegosaurian dinosaur Kentrosaurus Hennig, 1915 from Upper Jurassic of Tanzania, East Africa.] ''Geologica et Palaeontologica'', ''22'', 123-143.</ref> Two [[Quadrate bone|quadrates]] (bones from the jaw joint) were referred to ''Kentrosaurus'', but they instead belong to a juvenile [[Brachiosauridae|brachiosaurid]].<ref>Maidment, S. C., Norman, D. B., Barrett, P. M., & Upchurch, P. (2008). Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). ''Journal of Systematic Palaeontology'', ''6''(4), 367-407.</ref>
[[File:KentrosaurusBraincase(HMN St 460).jpg|left|thumb|Braincase of ''Kentrosaurus'' in lateral view.]]
The long and narrow [[skull]] was small in proportion to the body. It had a small [[antorbital fenestra]], the hole between the nose and eye common to most [[archosaur]]s, including modern birds, though lost in extant crocodylians. The skull's low position suggests that ''Kentrosaurus'' may have been a browser of low-growing vegetation. This interpretation is supported by the absence of premaxillary teeth and their likely replacement by a horny beak or [[Beak#Anatomy|rhamphotheca]]. The presence of a beak extended along much of the jaws may have precluded the presence of cheeks in stegosaurs.<ref name="czerkas1999">{{cite journal |last1=Czerkas |first1=S |year=1999 |title=The beaked jaws of stegosaurs and their implications for other ornithischians |journal=Miscellaneous Publication of the Utah Geological Survey |volume=99–1 |pages=143–150}}</ref> Due to its phylogenetic position, it is unlikely that ''Kentrosaurus'' had an extensive beak like ''Stegosaurus'' and it instead probably had a beak restricted to the jaw tips.<ref name="knoll2008">{{cite journal |last1=Knoll |first1=F |year=2008 |title=Buccal soft anatomy in ''Lesothosaurus'' (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233720216 |format=PDF |journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen |volume=248 |issue=3 |pages=355–364 |doi=10.1127/0077-7749/2008/0248-0355}}</ref><ref name="barrett2001">Barrett, P.M. (2001). Tooth wear and possible jaw action of ''Scelidosaurus harrisonii'' Owen and a review of feeding mechanisms in other thyreophoran dinosaurs. Pp. 25-52 in Carpenter, K. (ed.): ''The Armored Dinosaurs''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.</ref> Other researchers have interpreted these ridges as modified versions of similar structures in other ornithischians which might have supported fleshy cheeks, rather than beaks.<ref name="dinosauria04">{{cite book |title=The Dinosauria |vauthors=Galton PM, Upchurch P |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-520-24209-8 |veditors=Weishampel DB, Dodson P, Osmólska H |edition=2nd |chapter=Stegosauria}}</ref>