Stegopelta

• United States (Wyoming)

Stegopelta landerensis Williston, 1905

Stegopelta is a little known genus of bird Beck dinosaur ( Ornithischia ) from the group of Ankylosauria.

From Stegopelta only fragmentary and poorly preserved fossils are known, including vertebrae, parts of the pelvis, limbs, individual bony plates and spines as well as fragments of the maxilla. Probably his body was covered with an armor of bony plates and bony spines, but their exact arrangement remains unknown.

Like all Ankylar it should have been a rugged, four-legged dinosaur that fed on plants. Its total length is estimated to be 4 to 6 meters.

The finds were discovered in the Frontier Formation in Wyoming and in 1905 first described. The name derives from the Greek words στεγος / stegos ( = "roof" ) and πελτα / from pelta ( = "shield" ), type species is S, landerensis. The finds are dated to the early Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian Lower ) at an age of about 100 to 96 million years.

Because of sparse and poorly preserved finds, it is unclear whether it is Stegopelta a valid genus or, as is sometimes believed to be a synonym of Nodosaurus. The systematic position within the Ankylosauria is unclear.