Acanthopholis horridus - Cretaceous Dinosaurs
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(a-kan-THOF-o-liss)
"spine bearer"
Describer Huxley, 1867
Also Known As --
Type of Species horridus
Order Ornithistia
SubOrder Thyreophora
InfraOrder Ankylosauria
Micro-Order --
Family Nodosauridae
Size 10-13 feet(3-4 meters) in length
Period Cretaceous Early Cretaceous Late Aptian Albian Cenomanian
Fossilsite England
Diet Herbivore
Acanthopholis was a small member of the nodosaur family (armored dinosaurs without tail clubs). We know little about its appearance, since no complete specimen has ever been found and almost all of its known remains are isolated bones scattered among several museums, but what is known suggests that this dinosaur did not differ greatly in size from its earlier relatives, Hylaeosaurus and Polacanthus, nor in appearance from its larger North America relative Sauropleta.
Discovery
Partial fossils have been found in England. Acanthopholis was named by
the British biologist Thomas H. Huxley in 1865.