Article: Remains of an ornithischian dinosaur in a pliosaur from the Kimmeridgian of England
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
36
Part:
2
Publication Date:
July
1993
Page(s):
357
–
360
Author(s):
Michael A. Taylor, David B. Norman and Arthur R. I. Cruickshank
Abstract
A specimen of the Kimmeridgian pliosaur Pliosaurus brachyspondylus includes three elements which do not appear to be plesiosaurian. A pair of left and right dermal scutes are ascribed to an unidentified armoured thyreophoran ornithischian dinosaur, and a single fragment is less definitely ascribed to the same animal. It is presumed that the pliosaur had been scavenging a dinosaur corpse shortly before its own death, and that the scutes were transported inside the pliosaur's stomach. This hypothesis cannot be verified because the pliosaur skeleton was severely disarticulated before burial, and partly destroyed before collection.