Yaverlandia
{{Short description|Extinct genus of dinosaurs}}
{{Speciesbox
| fossil_range = Early Cretaceous, {{Fossilrange|125}}
| image = Yaverlandia_skull_replica.png
| image_caption = Replica of MIWG 1530 seen from two different angles
| display_parents = 3
| taxon = Yaverlandia bitholus
| parent_authority = Galton, 1971
| authority = Galton, 1971
}}
Yaverlandia (meaning "of Yaverland Point/Yaverland Battery") is a genus of maniraptoran dinosaur. Known from a partial fossil skull (MIWG 1530) found in Lower Cretaceous strata of the Wessex Formation (Upper Silty Bed; Vectis Formation) on the Isle of Wight.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, Europe)". In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 556-563. {{ISBN|0-520-24209-2}}.Batten, D. J. (ed.) 2011. English Wealden Fossils. The Palaeontological Association, London."Magnetostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Vectis Formation (Wealden Group) on the Isle of Wight, Southern England." it was described as the earliest known member of the pachycephalosaurid family, but research by Darren Naish shows it to have actually been a theropod, seemingly a maniraptoran.{{cite journal |last=Naish |first=Darren |author2=Martill, David M. |year=2008 |title=Dinosaurs of Great Britain and the role of the Geological Society of London in their discovery: Ornithischia |journal=Journal of the Geological Society, London |volume=165 |pages=613–623 |doi=10.1144/0016-76492007-154 |issue=3|s2cid=129624992 }} The type species is Y. bitholus.Galton, P.M. (1971) "A primitive dome-headed dinosaur (Ornithischia: Pachycephalosauridae) from the Lower Cretaceous of England and the function of the dome of pachycephalosaurids". Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 45, No. 1, Pages 40–47.
Discovery and naming
MIWG 1530, the holotype skull, was discovered in 1930, in England and were commented upon by Watson (1930). Watson, D.M.S (1930) Proceedings of the Isle of Wight Natural History Society. 2, 60.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A664616 BBC: Dinosaurs of The Isle of Wight - Ornithischians] It was referred to as an iguanodontid of the genus Vectisaurus in 1936. When Steel (1969) followed Hulke (1879)Vectisaurus valdensis, a new Wealden Dinosaur (J. W. Hulke) Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 35, 421-424, 1 February 1879, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.JGS.1879.035.01-04.27 in listing Vectisaurus as an iguanodontid, Peter Malcolm Galton (1971) named the fossil as Yaverlandia, which he described as a pachycephalosaurid since the skull of Yaverlandia was different than that of Vectisaurus (Mantellisaurus).
In 2012 additional remains were reported, but these have not been described.{{Cite journal |date=2018-04-01 |title=English Wealden fossils: an update |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016787818300270 |journal=Proceedings of the Geologists' Association |language=en |volume=129 |issue=2 |pages=171–201 |doi=10.1016/j.pgeola.2018.02.007 |issn=0016-7878|last1=Austen |first1=Peter A. |last2=Batten |first2=David J. }}
Description
Yaverlandia was about 3 ft (1 m) in length and 1 ft (30 cm) in height.Sullivan, R.M. 2006. A taxonomic review of the Pachycephalosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35:347-365
Classification
Before being named, Swinton (1936) had MIWG 1530 placed within Mantellisaurus,Swinton, W.E. (1936). The dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 47, 204–220. which was a member of the Iguanodontidae. Galton (1971) upon describing Yaverlandia placed it within the Pachycephalosauridae. Sullivan (2000), Sereno (2000)Sereno, P. C., (2000): The fossil record, systematics and evolution of pachycephalosaurs and ceratopsians from Asia. 480-516 in Benton, M. J., Shishkin, M. A., Unvin, D. M. & Kurochkin, E. N., (eds.) 2000: The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, xxxix-696 Naish (2006; unpublished thesis), Sullivan (2006)Sullivan, R. M., 2006: A taxonomic review of the Pachycephalosauridae (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletin 35: 347-365 and Naish (2008) all re-classified Yaverlandia as a maniraptoran.
Paleoecology
Yaverlandia was found in the Vectis Formation and it would have coexisted with the nodosaur Polacanthus,Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, Europe)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 556-563. {{ISBN|0-520-24209-2}}. the neornithischian Hypsilophodon, the iguanodontid Mantellisaurus, an indeterminate euornithopod, the spinosaur Baryonyx,{{cite journal |vauthors=Barker CT, Lockwood JA, Naish D, Brown S, Hart A, Tulloch E, Gostling NJ |year=2022 |title=A European giant: a large spinosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Vectis Formation (Wealden Group, Early Cretaceous), UK |journal=PeerJ |volume=10 |pages=e13543 |doi=10.7717/peerj.13543 |pmid=35702254 |pmc=9188774 |doi-access=free}} the dromaeosaurid Vectiraptor, the plesiosaur Vectocleidus pastorum{{Cite journal |date=11 December 2012 |title=A new leptocleidid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Vectis Formation (Early Barremian–early Aptian; Early Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight and the evolution of Leptocleididae, a controversial clade |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14772019.2011.634444?journalCode=tjsp20 |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology|doi=10.1080/14772019.2011.634444 |last1=Benson |first1=Roger B. J. |last2=Ketchum |first2=Hilary F. |last3=Naish |first3=Darren |last4=Turner |first4=Langan E. |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=233–250 |s2cid=18562271 }} and the crocodylomorph Hylaeochampsa vectiana.{{Cite journal |last=Clark; Norell |first=James; Mark |date=January 1992 |title=The Early Cretaceous crocodylomorph Hylaeochampsa vectiana from the Wealden of the Isle of Wight |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291045398 |journal=American Museum Novitates |pages=19}}
References
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Category:Dinosaurs of the United Kingdom