Scolosaurus

[Splonkadumpocus]

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Scolosaurus, an ankylosaur long thought to be synonymous with Euoplocephalus, is now argued to be a different genus. While this may not seem a newsworthy issue, it does affect our collections a great deal.

Notably, specimens referred to Euoplocephalus show some variation in armor arrangement, and the degree of completeness also affects how the armor is reconstructed. When it comes to most of our Euoplocephalus models, toys, etc., they all tend to be based on one specimen with very well-preserved armor, showing a pattern of two big spikes on the back between the shoulders, two spikes on the shoulders, and another pair of spikes midway along the tail. As you may have guessed, this specimen is also the holotype of Scolosaurus.

So if this analysis holds up, you might need to do some relabeling.

And no, Scolosaurus did not have spikes attached to its tail club.