What is Nodosauridae?
Nodosauridae is a family of armoured plant-eaters that lacked the heavy tail club of ankylosaurids. Members have broad bodies, bony plates and spikes, and a narrower skull. They are known from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of North America and Europe.
Armour layouts are often reconstructed from partial skeletons or rock-embedded specimens. Placement of some members, including spiny forms such as Gastonia and Polacanthus, differs between catalogues, so check each field note for the discussion.
How this group is defined here
Members are the 5 field notes whose family or immediate parent group in the Paleobiology Database catalogue is Nodosauridae. The interpreted diet field across the group is herbivore, based on skeletal features rather than direct observation. Groups are revised when new fossils are described, and some genera are placed here with less certainty than others, so each field note records its sources and limits.
