Pronunciation: ROO-go-CAW-dee-uh
Meaning: Wrinkled tail
Author/s: Woodruff (2012)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Montana, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #813
Rugocaudia cooneyi
Every so often, a newly-found dinosaur will be blessed with a name that can be interpreted differently and more amusingly than the coining authors initially intended, and 2012 yielded two such critters. Firstly came Philovenator currriei, which is supposed to mean "Phil Currie, lover of the hunt" in reference to Canadian palaeontologist Phil Currie, his love of fossil hunting and the critter's love of hunting in general, but reads more like "Phil Currie, love hunter". Then Woodruff introduced Rugocaudia cooneyi, a basal titanosauriform sauropod from the Early Cretaceous Cloverley Formation of Montana, whose name, no matter which way you slice it, means "Cooney's wrinkled tail", in honour of landowner J.P. Cooney. Cue childish giggles, especially from us.
Rugocaudia is the northernmost titanosauriform known from North America, and its discovery, along with more of its ilk in Wyoming since, hinted at a stronger Early Cretaceous sauropod presence across the continental USA than previously thought. However, Michael D'Emic and Brady Foreman reckon Rugocaudia is a diagnosis dodger because its poorly preserved fossils lack unique features and sport characteristics that were either widespread among the family Sauropoda or the result of damage. If that is the case, Rugocaudia would be a nomen dubium and actually add nothing to the record of sauropod dinosaurs. Nor would it contradict our understanding of the so-called "sauropod hiatus" between the mid-Cenomanian and the Maastrichtian of Cretaceous North America that cleared a path for horn-faced ceratopsians to become the area's dominant herbivores, in number if not in size.
Rugocaudia is the northernmost titanosauriform known from North America, and its discovery, along with more of its ilk in Wyoming since, hinted at a stronger Early Cretaceous sauropod presence across the continental USA than previously thought. However, Michael D'Emic and Brady Foreman reckon Rugocaudia is a diagnosis dodger because its poorly preserved fossils lack unique features and sport characteristics that were either widespread among the family Sauropoda or the result of damage. If that is the case, Rugocaudia would be a nomen dubium and actually add nothing to the record of sauropod dinosaurs. Nor would it contradict our understanding of the so-called "sauropod hiatus" between the mid-Cenomanian and the Maastrichtian of Cretaceous North America that cleared a path for horn-faced ceratopsians to become the area's dominant herbivores, in number if not in size.
(Cooney's Wrinkled Tail)Etymology
Rugocaudia is derived from the Latin "ruga" (wrinkled) and "cauda" (tail), referring to the highly rugose (wrinkled or corrugated) texture on the rear of its tail vertebrae.
The species epithet, cooneyi (KOO-nee-eye), honours J.P. Cooney, owner of the land on which the fossils were discovered.
Discovery
The remains of Rugocaudia were discovered at "Middle Dome" in the Himes Member (Unit VII) of the Cloverly Formation, Wheatland County, Montana, USA, during the summer of 1985 by Robert Makela and a crew from the Museum of the Rockies (MOR) at Bozeman.The holotype (MOR 334) consists of eighteen tail (caudal) vertebrae, an associated arch and chevron, a "hand" bone (metacarpal), and a tooth which is nearly identical to the Pleurocoelus or Astrodon teeth (YPM 5374 and YPM 5375) from the Cloverly Formation of Wyoming.
Bits of ribs,the end of a femur, other limb elements, and possible pelvic and shoulder girdles, were found in the same quarry but are far too damaged and fragmentary to be of any use.
