@article {Mateus_O:2009, title = {A new long-necked {\textquoteright}sauropod-mimic{\textquoteright} stegosaur and the evolution of the plated dinosaurs}, journal = {Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B}, volume = {276}, year = {2009}, month = {Jan}, pages = {1815-1821}, abstract = {

Stegosaurian dinosaurs have a quadrupedal stance, short forelimbs, short necks, and are generally considered to be low browsers. A new stegosaur, Miragaia longicollum gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Jurassic of Portugal, has a neck comprising at least 17 cervical vertebrae. This is eight additional cervical vertebrae when compared with the ancestral condition seen in basal ornithischians such as Scutellosaurus.
Miragaia has a higher cervical count than most of the iconically long-necked sauropod dinosaurs. Long neck length has been achieved by {\textquoteleft}cervicalization{\textquoteright} of anterior dorsal vertebrae and probable lengthening of centra. All these anatomical features are evolutionarily convergent with those exhibited in the necks of
sauropod dinosaurs. Miragaia longicollum is based upon a partial articulated skeleton, and includes the only known cranial remains from any European stegosaur. A well-resolved phylogeny supports a new clade that unites Miragaia and Dacentrurus as the sister group to Stegosaurus; this new topology challenges the common view of Dacentrurus as a basal stegosaur.

}, url = {http://omateus.googlepages.com/Mateus_et_al_2009_Stegosaur_Miragaia.pdf}, attachments = {https://docentes.fct.unl.pt/sites/default/files/omateus/files/mateus_et_al_2009_stegosaur_miragaia_complete_with_suppl.pdf}, author = {O. Mateus and Maidment, S and Christiansen, N} }