Polacanthus

Field photograph to come

DV-0023Wessex Fm., United Kingdom

Polacanthus

DV-0023

Lived
137 to 113 million years ago, Early Cretaceous
Diet
Herbivore
Length
about 5 m (16 ft)
Group
Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae
Found in
United Kingdom and Spain
Named by
Fox 1866

Field notes

About Polacanthus

Polacanthus was a plant-eating ankylosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous, 137 to 113 million years ago. It belongs to the family Nodosauridae.

The Paleobiology Database lists 13 finds of Polacanthus, from United Kingdom and Spain. Its fossils come from rocks including the Wessex Formation, the Arcillas de Morella Formation and the Ferruginous Sands Formation. It was named by Fox in 1866.

The evidence

Where its fossils were found

Today

13 finds

125 million years ago

Map: C. R. Scotese, PALEOMAP

To scale

How big was Polacanthus?

0 m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m
Polacanthus: about 5 m (16 ft) · Person: 1.8 m (6 ft)Silhouette: typical ankylosaur shape

Lived alongside

Found in the same rock formations.

Close relatives

Other members of Nodosauridae.

Sources: Paleobiology Database, WikidataNamed in: W. Fox. 1866. On a new Wealden saurian named Polacanthus. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Birmingham 1865:56