Crichtonpelta
- Lived
- 106 to 90 million years ago, Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ankylosaurs, Ankylosauridae
- Found in
- China
- Named by
- Arbour and Currie 2016
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
100 million years ago
Habitat
It lived on land in what is now China, where the Sunjiawan Formation also preserves Borealosaurus and Shuangmiaosaurus.
Field notes
About Crichtonpelta
What it was like
Crichtonpelta was an ankylosaur, a low, armored plant eater. It is known from skulls and parts of the skeleton. Its classification has changed several times.
Its world
It lived in the Cretaceous, in what is now China. It comes from the Sunjiawan Formation, where it shared the land with the sauropod Borealosaurus and the plant eater Shuangmiaosaurus.
How it was found
Arbour and Currie named Crichtonpelta in 2016, for a species that had been placed in another ankylosaur. The name honors a novelist.
Field gallery
More views of Crichtonpelta
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Crichtonpelta.
The evidence
The science behind Crichtonpelta
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Skulls and parts of the body skeleton are known, including a later find with a nearly complete skull.
- The skull is longer than wide, with a relatively narrow beak.
- The skull roof has rough, irregular ornamentation rather than a neat pattern of separate plates.
Borrowed from relatives
- Ankylosaurs such as Pinacosaurus provide comparisons for restoring gaps in its low, armored body.
Still unknown
- Whether it had a tail club.
- The full arrangement of armor across its body.
- Its color and how its appearance changed as it grew.
Discovery timeline
- 2016Named itArbour & Currie
- 2017New findYANG et al.
- 2018Close relativeZheng et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Crichtonpelta
Named it
Gave this previously described species its own genus during a broad review of ankylosaur anatomy and relationships.
Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 14: 385-444
No link available
New find
Described a nearly complete skull from the original quarry and placed Crichtonpelta near the base of the ankylosaurine family tree.
A New Specimen ofCrichtonpelta benxiensis(Dinosauria: Ankylosaurinae) from the Mid-Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China. Acta Geologica Sinica - English Edition 91: 781-790
Read the paper : A New Specimen ofCrichtonpelta benxiensis(Dinosauria: Ankylosaurinae) from the Mid-Cretaceous of Liaoning Province, China (opens in a new tab)Close relative
Described Jinyunpelta with a complete tail club and compared its skull with Crichtonpelta, whose tail club is unconfirmed.
The most basal ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Albian–Cenomanian of China, with implications for the evolution of the tail club. Scientific Reports 8
Read the paper : The most basal ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Albian–Cenomanian of China, with implications for the evolution of the tail club (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Ankylosauridae
Sources: Wikidata