Day 315#: Silvisaurus condrayi
Today's animal of the day is Silvisaurus condrayi!
Image credit: ABelov2014 on DeviantArt
This species of ankylosaur lived during either the early or late Cretaceous period (paleontologists aren't quite sure which) in what is now the state of Kansas. In fact, it is currently the only species of non-avian dinosaur to ever be found in the state, and because of this, it was made the official state fossil in 2023. However, even though it was only recently given this title, Silvisaurus was actually discovered all the way back in 1950. Its remains were found by a rancher named Warren W. Condray on his property in Wells, Kansas. Condray contacted Senator Frank Carlson, for some reason, who directed him to the chancellor of the University of Kansas, who sent over the preparator of the University's paleontology department, Russel R. Camp, to go and retrieve the specimen. It took ten more years for this dinosaur to finally be formally described, and it was given the genus name Silvisaurus, which means "woodland lizard", since it would have lived in a heavily forested environment, while its species name honors Warren Condray.
Photo credit: NGPezz
This fossilized individual is currently the only known specimen of Silvisaurus, and it's pretty incomplete. It consists of the skull, the sacrum, part of the left pubic bone, the lower half of the right femur, as well as some vertebrae from its neck, back, and tail. Some spiky osteoderms and parts of its armor plating were also found in a dried-up riverbed, but these were partly damaged both by natural erosion and by Condray's cattle. To this day, this specimen is still held at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, and the skeleton pictured above is the actual original holotype specimen found in 1950. Despite not being much, the fossils that are available have given paleontologists a basic understanding of what Silvisaurus would have looked like.
Image credit: Cisiopurple on DeviantArt
Silvisaurus belonged to the family of Ankylosaurs known as the Nodosaurids, which lacked the iconic tail clubs of the Ankylosaurids but were usually much more spiky. It would have been about 13 ft long, and unlike many later species of Nodosaurids, it had a mouth full of teeth instead of a toothless beak. Based on this, paleontologists suspect that Silvisaurus was a relatively primitive species of Nodosaurid, and would have been most closely related to dinosaurs like Sauropelta, Pawpawsaurus, and Cedarpelta (which I covered on day 185#).
