Aletopelta
"wandering shield"
- Lived
- 84 to 72 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ankylosaurs, Ankylosauridae
- Found in
- United States
- Named by
- Ford and Kirkland 2001
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
80 million years ago
Habitat
It probably lived on coastal land in what is now California. Its body was buried offshore in the marine sediments of the Point Loma Formation.
Field notes
About Aletopelta
What it was like
Aletopelta was an armored plant eater from the ankylosaur family. It is known from a partial skeleton with pieces of its bony armor, including plates that covered its hips.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now California. Its bones come from the Point Loma Formation, which formed on the sea floor, so its body probably washed out to sea after death. Very few dinosaurs have been found in California.
How it was found
Ford and Kirkland named it in 2001 from one find. The name refers to how the land where it lived has moved north over millions of years.
Field gallery
More views of Aletopelta
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 2
The evidence
The science behind Aletopelta
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- A partial skeleton includes hip bones, hindlimbs, parts of the forelimbs and bony armor.
- Closely packed polygonal plates covered the hips, and other armor pieces had triangular profiles.
Borrowed from relatives
- Panoplosaurus provides a comparison for the missing skull and the broad, low body.
- Peloroplites helps restore short supporting fingers and broad, blunt claws.
Still unknown
- Whether it belongs with club-tailed ankylosaurs or with nodosaurs.
- The shape of its skull and tail, including whether it had a tail club.
- Its color and the full arrangement of its armor.
Often drawn wrong
- Burial on the sea floor is sometimes mistaken for an aquatic way of life; it was a land-dwelling plant eater.
Discovery timeline
- 1996Full descriptionCoombs & Deméré
- 2001Named itFord & Kirkland
- 2015Family treeArbour & Currie
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Aletopelta
Full description
Described the partial skeleton before it was named, including its limbs and armor, and compared it with nodosaurs.
A Late Cretaceous nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from marine sediments of coastal California. Journal of Paleontology 70: 311-326
Read the paper : A Late Cretaceous nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from marine sediments of coastal California (opens in a new tab)Named it
Named the armored dinosaur from a partial skeleton with hip armor and argued that it belonged among ankylosaurids.
Carlsbad ankylosaur (Ornithischia, Ankylosauria): an ankylosaurid and not a nodosaurid. The Armored Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.
No link available
Family tree
Included Aletopelta among ankylosaurids in a broad revision of armored dinosaur relationships.
Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14: 385-444
Read the paper : Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ankylosauridae
Sources: Wikidata