Gastonia

MEANING: Gaston

PERIOD: Early Cretaceous

CONTINENT: North America

Gastonia is a medium-sized ankylosaurian dinosaur, at around 6 m in length. While its affinities are unclear, the lack of tail club and shape of the skull indicate that it was likely a nodosaur. Gastonia had a broad body covered in a bony armor of osteoderms, including tall spikes on the shoulders, and broad horizontal spikes protruding from the sides of the tail.

Gastonia is from the Early Cretaceous. The Cretaceous is the third and final geological period of the Mesozoic Era, with the Early Cretaceous making up roughly the first half, lasting from about 143 to 100 million years ago. The poles were ice-free, due to the relatively warm climate, and forests extended into high latitudes. The continued breakup of the continents created new coastlines and isolated landmasses, influencing the evolution of distinct dinosaur faunas.

It was a time of transition, as many groups of animals and plants began to take on more modern forms while others declined or disappeared. Pterosaurs continued to thrive, though early birds were becoming more diverse and widespread. Mammals remained small but adapted to a variety of ecological niches. In the oceans, ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs were common, and early mosasaurs began to appear.

Dinosaurs remained the dominant land animals, with groups like iguanodontians, spinosaurids, and carcharodontosaurids rising to prominence. While sauropods declined in some regions, they remained abundant in the Southern Hemisphere. The first true ceratopsians appeared, and ankylosaurs replaced stegosaurs in their niche. Dromaeosaurs and other small theropods diversified. During this time, the first flowering plants evolved, gradually changing global ecosystems by providing new food sources for herbivores.

Gastonia is an ankylosaur. Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous, armored ornithischian dinosaurs known for their heavily built bodies and protective coverings. The group is traditionally divided into two main families: the tail-club-wielding Ankylosauridae and the spike-covered Nodosauridae. These derived forms are well known from the Cretaceous, and represent the height of ankylosaur evolution in terms of defensive adaptations and body size. However, the evolutionary story of ankylosaurs begins earlier, with more basal forms that lack many of the extreme traits seen in their later relatives.

Basal ankylosaurians were generally smaller and less heavily armored than their descendants. While they still possessed osteoderms embedded in their skin, these were arranged in simpler patterns and offered more modest protection. These early members often retained more gracile builds and longer limbs, suggesting they may have been slightly more agile and less tank-like. Many lacked the wide skulls, fused body armor, and tail clubs seen in ankylosaurids, and some retained relatively primitive features like simple teeth and unspecialized hips. Fossils of these basal forms are known from both the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, and they provide crucial insight into how ankylosaurs gradually developed their hallmark traits over time.