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This timeline of ankylosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ankylosaurs, quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs who were protected by a covering bony plates and spikes and sometimes by a clubbed tail. Although formally trained scientists did not begin documenting ankylosaur fossils until the early 19th century, Native Americans had a long history of contact with these remains, which were generally interpreted through a mythological lens. The Delaware people have stories about smoking the bones of ancient monsters in a magic ritual to have wishes granted and ankylosaur fossils are among the local fossils that may have been used like this.〔 The Native Americans of the modern southwestern United States tell stories about an armored monster named Yeitso that may have been influenced by local ankylosaur fossils.〔 Likewise, ankylosaur remains are among the dinosaur bones found along the Red Deer River of Alberta, Canada where the Piegan people believe that the Grandfather of the Buffalo once lived.〔 The first scientifically documented ankylosaur remains were recovered from Early Cretaceous rocks in England and named ''Hylaeosaurus armatus'' by Gideon Mantell in 1833.〔 However, the Ankylosauria itself would not be named until Henry Fairfield Osborn did so in 1923 nearly a hundred years later.〔 Prior to this, the ankylosaurs had been considered members of the Stegosauria, which included all armored dinosaurs when Othniel Charles Marsh named the group in 1877. It was not until 1927 that Alfred Sherwood Romer implemented the modern use of the name Stegosauria as specifically pertaining to the plate-backed and spike-tailed dinosaurs of the Jurassic that form the ankylosaurs' nearest relatives.〔 The next major revision to ankylosaur taxonomy would not come until Walter Coombs divided the group into the two main families paleontologists still recognize today; the nodosaurids and ankylosaurids.〔 Since then, many new ankylosaur genera and species have been discovered from all over the world and continue to come to light. Many fossil ankylosaur trackways have also been recognized.〔 ==Prescientific== * The Delaware people of what is now New Jersey or Pennsylvania had a tradition regarding a hunting party that returned with a piece of an ancient bone supposedly belonging to a monster that killed humans. One of the village's wise men instructed people to burn bits of the bone in clay spoons with tobacco and make a wish while the concoction was still smoking. This ritual could bestow such favors as success in hunting, long life, and health for one's children. This tale might be inspired by local fossils, which include ankylosaurs, ''Coelosaurus'', ''Dryptosaurus'', and ''Hadrosaurus''.〔 * Traditional Navajo creation mythology portrays modern Earth as the most recent of a series of worlds. They believe that the earlier worlds were inhabited by monsters that were killed with lightning bolts wielded by the heroic Monster Slayers.〔 The most terrifying monster of the old worlds was the Big Gray Monster, Yeitso.〔 The Navajo of Arizona feared fossil remains, attributing them to his corpse. They believe that Yeitso's ghost still haunts his remains.〔 Yeitso's flint-like scales my have been inspired by the fossilized armored plates of various prehistoric creatures that once lived in what is now the western US. Ankylosaurs like ''Ankylosaurus'' are one such potential candidate for the source of Yeitso's armored hide. Others include non-ankylosaurs like the Permian amphibian ''Eryops'', Triassic phytosaurs and ''Desmatosuchus'', as well as other armored dinosaurs like ''Scutellosaurus'' or ''Stegosaurus''.〔 * The Piegan people of Alberta attributed the fossils of dinosaurs to the "grandfather of the buffalo" they left offerings of cloth and tobacco to this mythical creature near the Red Deer River. Ankylosaur remains are among those preserved in the area that helped inspire this legend and associated practice, as are the remains of ceratopsians, hadrosaurs, and carnivorous theropods.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Timeline of ankylosaur research」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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