Cedarpelta

• North America (Utah )

• C. bilbeyhallorum Carpenter et al. 2,001

Cedarpelta is a genus of bird Beck dinosaur from the group of Ankylosauria. It was a basal genus from the Lower Cretaceous, their systematic classification within the Ankylosauria is controversial.

Features

From Cedarpelta two skulls have so far been found - one of which is in a dilapidated condition - as well as individual, yet descriptive parts of the postcranial skeleton. The skulls were unusually large ( 60 cm length) and elongated. He had no ornaments on the upper side. The overall length is estimated to be about 7 meters and a weight of about 5 tons.

Characteristic of the genus are several features in the structure of the skull, including the extended wing leg and an unpaired element of the parietal bone. The premaxilla ( the foremost bone of the upper jaw ) contributed six conical teeth, in the later, more developed ankylosauruses it was toothless.

Little is known about the rest of the physique. He was probably like all Ankylosauria a quadrupeder, from an armor of bony plates covered dinosaur that fed on plants.

Discovery and designation

Fossil remains of Cedarpelta were found in the Lower Cedar Formation in the U.S. state of Utah and in 2001 by Kenneth Carpenter et al. first described. The genus name is derived from the locality ( Cedar ) and the Greek -πελτα/-pelta ( = "shield" ). The finds are dated to the Early Cretaceous ( Barremian ) at an age 130-125 million years. This Cedarpelta is one of the older ankylosauruses.

System

Although Cedarpelta is unequivocally classified in the Ankylosauria, within this taxon systematics is controversial. The describer Carpenter saw him as a close relative of Gobisaurus and Shamosaurus and thus a representative of Ankylosauridae. In contrast, it assigns the phylogenetic analysis of M. Vickaryous et al. (2004 ) in the Nodosauridae, where he is listed as basalster representatives and sister taxon of all other Nodosauridae.