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Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a well-armoured sea urchin. Armour is evident in numerous animal species from both current and prehistoric times. Dinosaurs such as Ankylosaurus, as well as other Thyreophora (armoured dinosaurs such as Ankylosauria and Stegosauria), grew thick plate-like armour on their bodies as well as offensive armour appendages such as the thagomizer or a tail club.
A prominent feature of Ankylosaurus was its armor, consisting of knobs and plates of bone known as osteoderms, or scutes, embedded in the skin. These have not been found in articulation, so their exact placement on the body is unknown, though inferences can be made based on related animals, and various configurations have been proposed.
The result is a specimen that preserves the animal almost as it would have looked in life, without flattening or shriveling. [6] [4] The Suncor specimen preserved numerous closely spaced rows of small armor plates, or osteoderms, lining the top and sides of its broad body.
The plates in the lorica segmentata armor were made by overlapping ferrous plates that were then riveted to straps made from leather. [1] [4] [5] It is unknown what animal was used to make the leather and if it was tanned or tawed. [1] The plates were made of soft iron on the inside and rolled mild steel on the outside. [1]
Dunkleosteus was covered in dermal bone forming armor plates across its skull and front half of its trunk. This armor is often described as being over 2–3 inches (5.1–7.6 cm) thick, [26] [14] but this is only across the thickened nuchal plate at the back of the skull. [14]
The other, Stegosaurus sulcatus, was named based on a left forelimb, scapula, left femur, several vertebrae, and several plates and dermal armor elements (USNM V 4937) collected in 1883. [ 8 ] [ 3 ] Stegosaurus sulcatus most notably preserves a large spike that has been speculated to have been a shoulder spike that is used to diagnose the species.
This included fifteen skulls, teeth, and a few almost-complete skeletons, found with the armor still attached. [7] Individual armor plates are the most commonly found element from them. In 1978, Coombs even included the Asian ankylosaurid Tarchia in the genus, renaming it as Euoplocephalus giganteus. [16]
This animal had a soft, unarmored underside, but the upward-facing surfaces were armored by: a small shell, near the front end; three zones of armor plates, which fitted close to the body and one of which ran all the way round the animal; 16 to 20 long, upwards-curving spines on each side of the body. [12]