Stegopelta

Stegopelta
Temporal occurrence
Upper Cretaceous (Lower Cenomanian )
100.5 to 96.2 million years
Locations
USA ( Wyoming )
Systematics
Pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia) Thyreophora Eurypoda Ankylosauria Nodosauridae? Stegopelta
Scientific name
Stegopelta
Williston , 1905
Art
Stegopelta landerensis Williston, 1905

Stegopelta is a little known genus of the bird pelvic dinosaur (Ornithischia) from the group of the Ankylosauria .

From stegopelta only fragmentary and poorly preserved are fossils known, including vertebrae , parts of the basin , the limbs, individual bony plates and spines as well as fragments of the upper jaw. His body was probably covered with armor made of bone plates and bony thorns, the exact arrangement of which remains unknown.

Like all ankylosaurs, it may have been a sturdy, four-legged dinosaur that ate plants. Its total length is estimated to be 4 to 6 meters.

The finds were discovered in the Frontier Formation in the US state of Wyoming and first described in 1905 . The name is derived from the Greek words στεγος / stegos (= "roof") and πελτα / pelta (= "shield"), type species is S, landerensis . The finds are dated in the early Upper Cretaceous (Lower Cenomanian ) to an age of about 100 to 96 million years.

Due to the sparse and poorly preserved finds, it is unclear whether Stegopelta is a valid genus or, as is sometimes assumed, a synonym for Nodosaurus . The systematic position within the ankylosauria is also unclear.

literature

• Matthew K. Vickaryous, Teresa Maryańska , David B. Weishampel : Ankylosauria. In: David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson , Halszka Osmólska (eds.): The Dinosauria. 2nd edition. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2004, ISBN 0-520-24209-2 , pp. 363-392.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Gregory S. Paul : The Princeton Field Guide To Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ et al. 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9 , p. 230, online .