Stegopelta landerensis
By Jack Wood
Etymology: Roofed Shield
First Described By: Williston, 1905
Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Genasauria, Thyreophora, Eurypoda, Ankylosauria, Nodosauridae
Status: Extinct
Time and Place: Between 100 and 97 million years ago, in the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous
Stegopelta is only known from the Belle Fourche Member of the Frontier Formation in Wyoming
Physical Description: Stegopelta is a Nodosaur, a sort of armored dinosaur that specialized in fancy spikes and other kinds of osteoderms (aka, external armor growing from bone in the skeleton) on their bodies, in addition to very narrow snouts for selective foraging. Stegopelta itself, however, is not known from a lot of fossil material - namely, some fragments of the jaw, vertebrae, hips, and limbs, as well as some armor from the back and some teeth. These fossils were damaged, too, due to exposure to erosion and being walked on by cattle. The most we can say about it compared to other nodosaurs is that it had distinct armor patterns on its back, including a fused region over its hips and spines on the shoulders that were split, but even that is mostly small details of difference. It would have been short and squat, with a long flexible tail and short neck.
Diet: As a nodosaur, Stegopelta would have been a specialized forager, using its narrow beak to grab only the plants it wanted to; it would have been a low-level browser, given its height.
Behavior: Little can really be said about the behavior of Stegopelta given its lack of good remains. However, it would have probably been a fairly slow-moving animal, ambling along in its environment and searching for food. As such, its main defense against predators would have been its armor along its back and tail. It would have spent a good portion of its day eating, as well, searching for the food it wanted amongst the leaves and foliage. It’s possible it may have associated with large herds of ornithopods, but without fossils of ornithopods found with it, that’s difficult to say for sure.
Ecosystem: Stegopelta was found in an ocean formation, indicating that its body washed out to sea; it’s possible, thus, that Stegopelta itself lived near the beach ecosystem.
Other: The original fossil was found before ankylosaurs were really known, so the original describer thought it was like a combination between Stegosaurus and Glyptodon!
~ By Meig Dickson
Sources under the Cut
