Typothorax in the New Issue of JVP

Heckert, A. B., Lucas, S. G., Rinehart, L. F., Celeskey, M. D., Justin A. Spielmann, J. A., and A. P. Hunt. 2010. Articulated skeletons of the aetosaur Typothorax coccinarum Cope (Archosauria: Stagonolepididae) from the Upper Triassic Bull Canyon Formation (Revueltian: Early-Mid Norian), Eastern New Mexico, USA. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30:619-642.


Abstract - We report two nearly complete, articulated skeletons of the crurotarsan archosaur Typothorax coccinarum from the Upper Triassic Bull Canyon Formation of east-central New Mexico. These are the most complete, articulated aetosaurs from North America and provide a wealth of new anatomical and paleobiological data, including articulated presacral armor that confirms the distinctiveness of T. coccinarum from the closely related T. antiquum and from Redondasuchus. Cervical vertebrae are small, but the corresponding reduction in armor is accomplished by a reduced number of cervical osteoderms. The third row of osteoderms includes a thin, elongate, lateral spike. The ventral armor consists of 10 thoracic columns and four caudal columns of osteoderms. Spiked osteoderms near the cloacal vent are the first spikes reported in aetosaurian ventral osteoderms. The forelimb of T. coccinarum was very short, only ∼0.65 the length of the hind limb, possesses some adaptations found in digging taxa, and was held in a sprawling or ‘semi-erect’ position. In contrast the hind limb is much more robust, ‘pillar erect,’ and functionally mesotarsal. The articulated pes, including unguals, has, minimally, the phalangeal formula 2-3-3?-4?-3? with relative digit lengths III > II > IV > I > V, digits I–IV equally as wide as long and other characteristics of the footprint ichnogenus Brachychirotherium, often attributed to an aetosaurian trackmaker. Both specimens are ∼2.5 m long and the preserved armor and limb bones are as large or larger than known Typothorax fossils, suggesting that this approximates the upper size limit of T. coccinarum, and we calculate body mass estimates of ∼100–104 kg for both specimens.