Probable Ankylosaur Ossicles from the Middle Cenomanian Dunvegan Formation of Northwestern Alberta, Canada

• Published in: PLoS ONE
• Main Authors: Burns, Michael E., Vavrek, Matthew J.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science 2014
• Subjects: Research Article; Canada; Dunvegan; Peace River
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4015975; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24816807; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096075

A sample of six probable fragmentary ankylosaur ossicles, collected from Cenomanian deposits of the Dunvegan Formation along the Peace River, represent one of the first dinosaurian skeletal fossils reported from pre-Santonian deposits in Alberta. Specimens were identified as ankylosaur by means of a palaeohistological analysis. The primary tissue is composed of zonal interwoven structural fibre bundles with irregularly-shaped lacunae, unlike the elongate lacunae of the secondary lamellar bone. The locality represents the most northerly Cenomanian occurrence of ankylosaur skeletal remains. Further fieldwork in under-examined areas of the province carries potential for additional finds.