WWD: "Polacanthus" sp.
Added 2023-05-23 03:55:13 +0000 UTCThis is the North American Polacanthus species equivalent, which in the show has since been reclassified as Hoplitosaurus. Since this revamp cuts out the North America segment and sets it entirely in Europe, it's been replaced with a different polacanthine.
In this case, there wasn't much to go off of. This is a taxon known from scrappy fossils in the Urbión Group which were tentatively assigned to Polacanthus. However, it's only known from several pieces of armour and its assignment to Polacanthus is dubious, as a 2020 reevaluation of the genus found none of the additional specimens assigned to the genus could be confirmed.
In any case, this animal is almost entirely speculative, and its appearance is based primarily on the related Polacanthus and Gastonia. In the episode, the two Polacanthus species had basically identical colourations, but here I've differentiated it because the two probably are not even the same genus. The colouration and patterning is based primarily on Edmontonia concept art for the Walking with Dinosaurs 3D movie.
