Antarctopelta
Name:
Antarctopelta
(Antarctic shield).
Phonetic: An-tarc-toe-pel-tah.
Named By: Leonardo Salgado & Zulma
Gasparini - 2006.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Thyreophora, Ankylosauria, Nodosauridae.
Species: A. oliveroi (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Up to 4 meters long.
Known locations: Antarctica - Santa Marta
Formation.
Time period: Campanian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull fragments, teeth and
partial post cranial remains, though many of these have been damaged
by environmental conditions.
Antarctopelta
is the first armoured dinosaur known to have lived in Antarctica,
though it should be pointed out that when Antarctopelta
lived there,
Antarctica was not covered in snow and ice. Antarctopelta
was a
kind of dinosaur called a nodosaur
which means that in life it would
have had a squat quadrupedal profile. The back and sides of
Antarctopelta would have been protected by a
covering of bony
armour called ostederms as well as possibly some spikes so that the
teeth of predatory dinosaurs could not get through. This was a
similar survival strategy as that used by the closely related
ankylosaurids, but as a nodosaur, Antarctopelta
would have lacked a
tail club.
Antarctopelta
likely shared its habitat with ornithopod dinosaurs like Trinisaura.
Further reading
- Reappraisal of an ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of
James Ross Island (Antarctica), Leonardo Salgado &
Zulma Gasparini - 2006.
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