Stegopelta Temporal range:
Early-
Late Cretaceous,
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Pelvic armor | |
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | † Ornithischia |
Clade: | † Thyreophora |
Clade: | † Ankylosauria |
Family: | † Nodosauridae |
Subfamily: | † Nodosaurinae |
Clade: | † Struthiosaurini |
Genus: | †
Stegopelta Williston, 1905 |
Species: | †S. landerensis
|
Binomial name | |
†Stegopelta landerensis Williston, 1905
|
Stegopelta (meaning "roofed shield") is a genus of struthiosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur. It is based on a partial skeleton from the latest Albian- earliest Cenomanian-age Lower and Upper Cretaceous Belle Fourche Member of the Frontier Formation of Fremont County, Wyoming, USA.
In 1905, Samuel Wendell Williston described FMNH UR88, a partial armored dinosaur skeleton consisting of a maxilla fragment, seven cervical and two dorsal vertebrae, part of a sacrum and both ilia, caudal vertebrae, parts of the scapulae, both humeral heads, portions of an ulna and both radii, a metacarpal, partial tibia, metatarsal, and armor including a shoulder spine and neck ring. [1] [2] The specimen was in poor condition, as it had eroded from a slope and been walked on by cattle. [3] Ankylosaurians being very poorly known, Williston compared his new genus to Stegosaurus, and the armor to that of Glyptodon; [1] like that mammal, Stegopelta had a fused section of armor (in its case over the pelvis). Roy Lee Moodie redescribed it in 1910, and considered it to be close to, if not the same as, Ankylosaurus. [3]
The genus fell into obscurity. Walter Coombs synonymized it with the more famous but equally poorly known Nodosaurus in his 1978 redescription of the Ankylosauria. [4] It was reinstated as a valid genus by Ken Carpenter and James Kirkland (1998), who recognized it as having distinct vertebral and armor characteristics. [2] Tracy Ford took this farther in 2000, assigning it to a new subfamily in Ankylosauridae based on armor characteristics, which he called Stegopeltinae. Also included was Glyptodontopelta. [5] This has not been generally accepted, but most recent reviews have accepted Stegopelta as a distinct genus with uncertain affinities. [6] [7]
Because it is so poorly known, at this point all that can be said about the habits and life of Stegopelta is that it was a slow quadrupedal herbivore that fed low to the ground and relied on its armor for defense. [7]
Its armor included a fused region over the sacrum, and shoulder spines that may have been split, as seen in Edmontonia. [2]
Stegopelta Temporal range:
Early-
Late Cretaceous,
| |
---|---|
![]() | |
Pelvic armor | |
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | † Ornithischia |
Clade: | † Thyreophora |
Clade: | † Ankylosauria |
Family: | † Nodosauridae |
Subfamily: | † Nodosaurinae |
Clade: | † Struthiosaurini |
Genus: | †
Stegopelta Williston, 1905 |
Species: | †S. landerensis
|
Binomial name | |
†Stegopelta landerensis Williston, 1905
|
Stegopelta (meaning "roofed shield") is a genus of struthiosaurin nodosaurid dinosaur. It is based on a partial skeleton from the latest Albian- earliest Cenomanian-age Lower and Upper Cretaceous Belle Fourche Member of the Frontier Formation of Fremont County, Wyoming, USA.
In 1905, Samuel Wendell Williston described FMNH UR88, a partial armored dinosaur skeleton consisting of a maxilla fragment, seven cervical and two dorsal vertebrae, part of a sacrum and both ilia, caudal vertebrae, parts of the scapulae, both humeral heads, portions of an ulna and both radii, a metacarpal, partial tibia, metatarsal, and armor including a shoulder spine and neck ring. [1] [2] The specimen was in poor condition, as it had eroded from a slope and been walked on by cattle. [3] Ankylosaurians being very poorly known, Williston compared his new genus to Stegosaurus, and the armor to that of Glyptodon; [1] like that mammal, Stegopelta had a fused section of armor (in its case over the pelvis). Roy Lee Moodie redescribed it in 1910, and considered it to be close to, if not the same as, Ankylosaurus. [3]
The genus fell into obscurity. Walter Coombs synonymized it with the more famous but equally poorly known Nodosaurus in his 1978 redescription of the Ankylosauria. [4] It was reinstated as a valid genus by Ken Carpenter and James Kirkland (1998), who recognized it as having distinct vertebral and armor characteristics. [2] Tracy Ford took this farther in 2000, assigning it to a new subfamily in Ankylosauridae based on armor characteristics, which he called Stegopeltinae. Also included was Glyptodontopelta. [5] This has not been generally accepted, but most recent reviews have accepted Stegopelta as a distinct genus with uncertain affinities. [6] [7]
Because it is so poorly known, at this point all that can be said about the habits and life of Stegopelta is that it was a slow quadrupedal herbivore that fed low to the ground and relied on its armor for defense. [7]
Its armor included a fused region over the sacrum, and shoulder spines that may have been split, as seen in Edmontonia. [2]