Dracopelta
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Extinct (fossil)
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| Dracopelta zbyszewskii Galton, 1980 |
Dracopelta (Galton, 1980) is an ankylosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. The only known specimen of this taxon was recovered from an unnamed geological unit (Kimmeridgian) in Lisboa, and consists on an incomplete postcranial skeleton, including an articulated series of dorsal vertebrae with associated ribs and osteoderms. The type species was designated D. zbyszewskii. Dracopelta (Latin draco = dragon + Greek pelta = small shield) was the first ankylosaur recognized from the Late Jurassic and remains one of the most primitive known genera referred to the Ankylosauria. Though originally placed within the Nodosauridae, Vickaryous et. al. (2004) consider Dracopelta Ankylosauria incertae sedis. It's difficult to estimate the animal's size from these fragmentary remains, but it was clearly a small dinosaur, appriximately 2 meters long.
[edit] References
- Galton, P. M. 1980. Partial skeleton of Dracopelta zbyszewskii n. gen. and n. sp., an ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Geobios 13(3):451-457
- Antunes, M. T., and Mateus, O. 2003. Dinosaurs of Portugal. Comptes Rendus Palevol 2:77-95
- Vickaryous, Maryanska, and Weishampel 2004. Chapter Seventeen: Ankylosauria. in The Dinosauria (2nd edition), Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., editors. University of California Press.
