Pronunciation: tek-sa-SEE-teez
Meaning: Texas dweller
Author/s: Coombs (1995)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Texas, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #403
Texasetes pleurohalio
The fossils of Texasetes was originally mistaken for those of a sauropod by their collector, M. K. Brett-Surman, before Walter P. Coombs correctly identified them as the property of an ankylosaur, specifically a nodosaurid—the ankylosaurs with spiked shoulders but no clubbed tail, based on features of its hip.
Y-N Lee thinks its remains are barely diognostic and probably belong to the contemporary Pawpawsaurus, the only nodosaurid known to have the bony eyelids commonly found in ankylosaurids, and why wouldn't he? It was Lee who discovered Pawpawsaurus, in the same formation as Texasetes... and three years earlier. However, his official description arrived a year too late so if the two are synonymous Pawpawsaurus would be struck from the dino-register. It's a terrible name anyway.
Y-N Lee thinks its remains are barely diognostic and probably belong to the contemporary Pawpawsaurus, the only nodosaurid known to have the bony eyelids commonly found in ankylosaurids, and why wouldn't he? It was Lee who discovered Pawpawsaurus, in the same formation as Texasetes... and three years earlier. However, his official description arrived a year too late so if the two are synonymous Pawpawsaurus would be struck from the dino-register. It's a terrible name anyway.
(Texas dweller who lived by the sea)Etymology
Texasetes is a combinaton of "Texas" (its place of discovery) and the Greek suffix "-etes" (dweller).
The species epithet, pleurohalio, combines "pleuro" (beside or adjacent to) with "halio" (the sea). Combined, Texasetes pleurohalio literally means "Texas dweller who lived by the sea".
Discovery
The only known remains of Texasetes were discovered in the Paw Paw Formation, 5 miles south of Haslet, Tarrant County, Texas by Michael K Brett-Surman.
The holotype (USNM 337987) consists of portions of the shoulder girdle and pelvis, elements from the fore and hindlimbs, vertebrae, armour, a skull fragment, and a single tooth.
