Patagopelta
"Patagonian shield"
Type species Patagopelta cristata
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Group
- Ankylosaurs, Nodosauridae
- Found in
- Argentina
- Named by
- Riguetti et al. 2022
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Habitat
Coastal lowlands included tidal channels, flats and sandy shores. Austroraptor, Aeolosaurus and Bonapartesaurus lived in the region.
Field notes
About Patagopelta
What it was like
Patagopelta was a small armored plant eater, known from partial bones and bony armor plates. It was first described as a nodosaur, but later finds suggest it belongs with the small southern ankylosaurs such as Stegouros.
It was small for an ankylosaur, perhaps because it lived in a world full of big titanosaurs and hadrosaurs.
Its world
It lived in the Late Cretaceous in what is now Argentina. Its bones come from the Allen Formation, where it shared the land with the raptor Austroraptor, the hunter Abelisaurus and the long-necked Aeolosaurus and Neuquensaurus.
How it was found
Riguetti and colleagues named Patagopelta in 2022.
Field gallery
More views of Patagopelta
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 Patagopelta.
The evidence
The science behind Patagopelta
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- Neck armor carries tall ridges, and the thigh bone has a strongly developed muscle crest.
- New finds include skull fragments, limbs, vertebrae and hip bones.
- Bony tail armor resembles the tail weapon of Stegouros.
Borrowed from relatives
- The missing parts of its body can be compared with Stegouros, Antarctopelta and Kunbarrasaurus, its southern armored relatives.
Still unknown
- The complete shape and arrangement of its body armor.
- Its color.
- How its body and armor changed as it grew.
Discovery timeline
- 2021Close relativeSoto-Acuña et al.
- 2022Named itRiguetti et al.
- 2026New findAgnolín et al.
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Patagopelta
Close relative
Described the flattened tail weapon of Stegouros and recognized a southern branch of armored dinosaurs.
Bizarre tail weaponry in a transitional ankylosaur from subantarctic Chile. Nature 600: 259-263
Read the paper : Bizarre tail weaponry in a transitional ankylosaur from subantarctic Chile (opens in a new tab)Named it
Named a small armored dinosaur distinguished by crested neck armor and a strong ridge on its thigh bone.
A new small-bodied ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of North Patagonia (Río Negro Province, Argentina). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 20
Read the paper : A new small-bodied ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of North Patagonia (Río Negro Province, Argentina) (opens in a new tab)New find
New bones and tail armor place Patagopelta among southern armored dinosaurs, closer to Antarctopelta and Kunbarrasaurus than to Stegouros.
New remains of the armored dinosaur Patagopelta cristata Riguetti et al. 2022 (Ornithischia, Parankylosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Historical Biology 38: 2756-2819
Read the paper : New remains of the armored dinosaur Patagopelta cristata Riguetti et al. 2022 (Ornithischia, Parankylosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Nodosauridae
Sources: Wikidata